A man snatched 33 years ago has been reunited with his mum after drawing a map of his childhood village from memory.
Li Jingwei, now 37, spent ‘countless nights of yearning’ when he was sold into a child trafficking ring at just four years old.
Heartwarming footage shows the moment the family broke down into tears as they set eyes on each other after decades apart. His mother was quoted as saying: ‘I’ve finally found my little baby.’
Li shared a video of his hand-drawn map to social site Douyin on December 24, after finding DNA databases and his adoptive parents couldn’t help him.
The sketch contained impressive detail, including what certain homes looked like and how locals used big wooden buckets to cook rice.
‘I’m a child who’s finding his home. I was taken to Henan by a bald neighbour around 1989, when I was about four years old,’ he told the camera.
Police matched the map to an area near the south-western city of Zhaotong in Yunnan Province, China’s The Paper reports.
After DNA tests, Li met his mother on Saturday, but tragically couldn’t reunite with his father who died without reconnecting with his son.
Li had been sold to a family living more than 1,100 miles away from his original home, but his mum later unknowingly moved just 60 miles away from him.
Figures from 2015 estimate there are 20,000 children abducted in China every year, with the society placing importance on having a son.
Li, who is now married with children, said his adopted family had taught him ‘the principles of being a human so he could study hard and become a talent in the future’.
It was not immediately clear whether anyone has been arrested in connection with the case.
It comes after another man met his family in July following an epic 24-year search spanning almost the whole of China.
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