When someone goes missing, it’s normal to believe they’ll never be found. Sun Haiyang and Peng Siying, on the other hand, never lost faith in their child.
Sun Zhuo, who was only four at the time, was abducted near his parents’ shop. A man enticed him away with a toy and scooped him up as quickly as he could. As Siying realized what had happened, she frantically awoke Haiyang, who was asleep.
“I remember running out and yelling my son’s name in the street that night,” Haiyang said, “but what bothered me the most was that every time I stood at a crossroads, I didn’t know which way to go.”
The parents immediately phoned the authorities, but they were told they couldn’t do anything until the child had been gone for 24 hours. According to Haiyang, they were never provided any aid even back then.
As a result, they did everything they could on their own, beginning with renaming their store “A Shop to Look for My Son” and publicly publicizing photographs of Zhuo and his abductor. They also sold residences in order to travel around China and visit nearly every region. Regardless, they were unable to locate him.
Even the amount of money offered as an incentive didn’t seem to make a difference. They started with a 100,000 yuan ($13,280) offer and eventually increased it to 197,705 yuan ($31,000).
“I was prepared to spend all of my money and even borrow money,” the frightened father admitted.
While Haiyang and Siying were desperately looking for their son, word of their tragedy spread, igniting a new debate about the incidence of kidnapping in China and the country’s one-child policy. Their story was so powerful that it was turned into a successful film called “Dearest” in 2014.
Despite the media focus, they had not heard anything about Zhuo’s location for years. That is, until 14 years later, when they received the long-awaited news: their son had been found!
Using China’s DNA database and facial recognition technology, Zhuo was found in Eastern China. It turns out that Zhuo had been bought by a couple who also had two daughters. Thankfully, it seems he grew up well cared for in a happy home.
We can’t even begin to imagine Haiyang and Siying’s reaction when the DNA test confirmed their son had been found, but their reunion was caught on camera, and it was just as emotional as you’d imagine.
“After 14 years and 57 days, he is a head taller than his mother. He brought us local specialties from where he lives now,” Haiyang said. “He is the Sun Zhuo that all of us have looked for all these years.”
Watch their unbelievable reunion in the video below, and don’t forget to share this tear-jerking story.