The High People’s Court of Shandong Province in East China upholds the original verdict for Hu Fuji and Tang Lixia on October 30, 2024. Hu was sentenced to death with a two-year suspension and Tang received a life sentence for child trafficking. Photo by CCTV

A court in East China’s Shandong Province affirmed the original judgement of defendants Hu Fuji and Tang Lixia, who were sentenced to death with a two-year suspension and a life imprisonment for abducting and trafficking children. They involved in the  abduction of a 2-year-old boy in 1997, whose father rode a motorbike across China in search of his son over 24 years, inspiring the film Lost and Love, according to China Central Television on Wednesday.

The High People’s Court of Shandong Province rejected Hu and Tang’s appeals, according to the report. 

Hu was sentenced to death with a two-year suspension and Tang received a life sentence for child trafficking, according to a verdict by the Liaocheng Intermediate People’s Court on December 27, 2023. 

In 1997 and 1998, Hu and Tang abducted and trafficked four children. Hu, along with other accomplices, abducted and trafficked a fifth child in 2001, the court found.

Both defendants were stripped of their political rights for life, with all their personal property confiscated, the verdict said. They were also ordered to pay the plaintiffs over 500,000 yuan ($70,068) as compensation for damages, according to the verdict. 

Both then filed appeals. An appeal hearing was conducted on August 22 this year in the High People’s Court of Shandong Province, according to media reports.

In 2015, the film Lost and Love was released, depicting a father’s journey by motorcycle across the country in search of his abducted son touching audiences nationwide. The film was based on the true story of Guo Gangtang from Liaocheng, Shandong, who spent years searching for his abducted son, according to media reports.

In 2021, the Ministry of Public Security launched a national campaign, focusing primarily on combating human trafficking and searching for missing relatives. The case of Guo, who had been abducted, was designated as a key case. In June 2021, Guo’s son was found at last, according to a CCTV report.

In an interview with cnr.cn, Guo expressed his hope that Hu would receive the death penalty, while acknowledging that Hu may have abducted other children. Guo hopes that Hu’s guilt or increased public awareness will lead to more information about his crimes, helping to find more abducted children and reunite families, according to a report by news portal cnr.cn on Tuesday, a day before the retrial.

Global Times