After 32 years, Chinese couple reunited with abducted son

Tribune Web Desk

Chandigarh, May 19

A Chinese man was reunited with his biological family after 32 years with the help of facial recognition technology.

Mao Yin was abducted in 1988 when he was two years old. He was snatched from his parents in Xi’an city of Shaanxi province, according to Chinese state-broadcaster CCTV. He was sold to a childless couple, who raised him as Gu Ningning in the neighboring Sichuan province.

Investigation about the initial abduction is still going on. State news agency Xinhua reported that the Xi’an police received a tip-off in April that a man in Sichuan had bought a child from Shaanxi in the late-1980s

The police then used facial recognition technology. They analysed an old photo of Mao to come up with a simulated image of him as an adult.

Xinhua reported that further investigations led the police to a man in Mianyang city, and after DNA testing, it was confirmed that he was Mao.

On Monday, Mao, now 34 years old, was reunited with his birth parents at a news conference held by the Xi’an police. “I don’t want him to leave me anymore,” Mao’s mother Li Jingzhi said.

Despite running a home decoration business in Sichuan, Mao said he would move to Xi’an to live with his parents.