The story is barely believable. In China, a man was able to find his biological parents 32 years after being kidnapped, thanks to the obstinacy of the police and the use of facial recognition.
Young Mao Yin was 2 years old in 1988 when he was kidnapped outside a hotel in Xi'an (central China), the city's public security bureau said in a statement. The boy was sold to a childless couple in neighboring Sichuan (southwest) who raised him as his own son. Monday, the young man now 34 years old finally met during a moving reunion with his biological parents.
An artificially aged photo
Her mother Li Jingzhi told CCTV public television that after her son disappeared, she quit her job and unsuccessfully distributed more than 100,000 wanted notices. But in April, police received a report that a Sichuan man in the 1980s bought a child from around Xi'an.
The police then used a facial recognition technique to artificially age a childhood photo of Mao Yin, said national CCTV television. This snapshot was then compared to the national database of passport photos to find the people with the most similar features.
The authorities thus found the trace of Mao Yin in Sichuan, where he runs a business of interior decoration. A DNA test confirmed that he was the kidnapped child. He had grown up without knowing that he had been kidnapped and without suspecting the existence of his biological parents.
Living with biological parents
"I don't want him to leave us anymore. I will not let him leave us anymore, ”said his biological mother Li Jingzhi during the reunion, firmly holding his son's hand. Mao Yin told CCTV of his desire to move to Xi'an to live with his biological parents.
Over the past decade, Chinese police have helped more than 6,300 abducted children find their families through DNA tests, according to the official China News Agency. Child abduction developed in the 1980s with the policy of the only child. This has increased demand for boys, traditionally preferred in the country even if this trend has eased in recent years.
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