After 25 years, man reunited with parents with the help of Shanghai police

Credit: Ti Gong

A man who went missing in Beijing in 1996 when he was only 3 years old was reunited with his family thanks to Shanghai police.

The man, now surnamed Zheng and born surnamed Du, met with his father in Shanghai on Friday.

Zheng, who was born to a family from the northeastern Chinese province of Jilin, went missing from a railway station where he was to take a train with his mother back home 25 years ago.

His parents later reported the case to the police and left their biological information, hoping they would be able to find their son one day.

Zheng who was adopted by another couple and now lives in Henan Province is married and has two kids. He was aware that he was adopted.

In 2019, Pudong police happened to come across Zheng's biological information. During a campaign to find missing persons this year, police found that Zheng was likely to be the missing son of Du and his wife.

Police immediately called Zheng, told him about the news and asked him to come to Shanghai.

"I was literally speechless when I got the call from the police, and couldn't believe that I would meet with my biological parents," Zheng said.

Zheng's father Du was also summoned to Shanghai. The father and son had another blood check to confirm their biological relation, and the result was positive.

The two couldn't hold back their tears when meeting for the first time after 25 years, Zheng a grown-up man and Du gray and wrinkled.

"I missed out on so much life with my biological parents, and it was Shanghai police who enabled me to make up for the past," Zheng said.