Photo: Web

Many Chinese people have felt the warmth of witnessing a father from Central China's Hubei Province reunite on Monday with his son, who was abducted 14 years ago, after years of searching and the joint efforts of public security departments across the nation with DNA comparison and matching technologies. 

Sun Haiyang burst into tears and held his "lost and found" 18-year-old son Sun Zhuo in his arms, unwilling to let him go for a long time, during the reunion ceremony held in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province, according to videos circulating on the internet. 

Since his son was abducted by a man with a toy and snacks in Shenzhen on October 9, 2007, Sun never gave up the search. 

The father operated a steamed stuffed bun shop in Shenzhen with his wife, and even transformed the signboard of his shop into a huge reward sign, looking for his kidnapped son. He even sold his properties and offered rewards of as much as 200,000 yuan ($31,000) to anyone who could provide clues to his son's whereabouts, which stirred a sensation. 

His story was later adapted into a heart-warming movie, Dearest, directed by Hong Kong director Peter Chan, which became a box-office hit in 2014, despite its grim subject matter on the kidnapping and selling of children in China. 

Many times, Sun was told about children who were suspected of being his son, but he was disappointed again and again after police DNA analysis. 

During the long process, Sun got to know many other families who had similar experiences, and he formed a union to help look for missing children via cooperation with NGOs, police and the media.

Fortunately, Sun was informed recently by the Shenzhen police that his missing child was found in East China's Shandong Province through DNA comparison. 

However, Sun Zhuo,  the son, expressed guilt during an interview with China Central Television after the reunion, saying that he would not return to his biological parents since his adoptive parents had taken care of him for more than 10 years. 

"I have a new home now, but both sides are my parents," said the boy, who is a senior high school student. 

Apart from the reunion of Sun's family, two other families also reunited with their "lost and found" sons who were respectively abducted in Shenzhen 14 and 17 years ago at the ceremony organized by China's Ministry of Public Security. 

A total of nine suspects involved in the abductions of the three children were apprehended through the joint efforts of police in Guangdong, Shandong and Hubei provinces between September and November this year. 

Apart from Sun Zhuo’s adoptive father, his adoptive mother and the adoptive parents of another child have been placed under compulsory measures and obtained bail pending trial.

Since the Ministry of Public Security launched the missing children alert platform called Tuanyuan (Reunion) in 2016 and rolled out a national campaign to fight against human trafficking in January, a total of 8,307 lost children have been found as of November 30. 

The authority vowed to continue to crack down hard on all kinds of human trafficking and effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of children and women. 

Global Times