Guo Gangtang shows the information of his abducted son on August 8, 2010. Photo: CFP

Child traffickers Hu Fuji and Tang Lixia, whose acts were depicted in the film "Lost and Love," were sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve and life imprisonment, respectively, in the Intermediate People’s Court of Liaocheng, East China’s Shandong Province, on Wednesday.

The two defendants have also been deprived of political rights for life, and had all personal property confiscated. They were also jointly ordered to compensate the plaintiffs in the related civil lawsuit for material losses of more than half a million yuan ($69,941.8), according to the verdict.

The court found that Hu and Tang abducted four children between 1997 and 1998, with the intention of selling them. Later on in 2001, Hu, together with others, abducted another child surnamed Yang with the intention of selling the child.

Hu and Tang jointly committed the act of child trafficking with the intention of abducting and selling four children. The court made the above judgment based on the facts, said the verdict.

Guo Gangtang, a 51-year-old man from Liaocheng, met his son in July 2021, after being separated for 24 years, according to media reports. Guo's son was abducted by human traffickers in 1997 when he was 2 years old. His son was found through the joint efforts of the police in Shandong and Central China's Henan provinces by using DNA sequence alignment.

The story was adapted into the 2015 film Lost and Love, in which renowned Chinese actor, Andy Lau, played the role of the father.

Global Times