A man, who was abdicated in China when he was four years of age, finally reunited with his family after 30 years, thanks to a map he drew from his memory, social media, and online sleuths, CNN reported.
The man, Li Jingwei, was kidnapped from southwestern Yunnan province in 1988 by a man who he knew from his village. He was then taken to central Henan province to live with another family and he lived with them for 30 years, according to state-run news outlet The Paper.
The man told the news outlet that he did realise he had been taken away from his home despite being a four-year-old toddler, but he had no idea about returning to his home even after growing up.
“He didn’t remember his birth name, his parents’ names or the name of his village,” CNN reported. Jingwei could only visualise and remember how his home village looked like.
He told The Paper that he could visualise where trees grew, roads turned, rivers flowed, and where cows grazed. He remembered the rice paddies and ponds near his house, and where bamboo shoots grew in the nearby mountain. As a child, whenever he was homesick or sad, he would draw a picture of his village — eventually drawing it at least once a day.
“So many years have passed, I don’t know if anyone in my family is looking for me,” Li said in a video posted to the Chinese video platform Douyin. “I want to be able to see my parents again while they are still here.”
According to other state media outlets and The Paper, the matter came to the notice of the Ministry of Public Security through social media and they initiated an investigation.
Authorities soon located his suspected birth mother in the city of Zhaotong, Yunnan. On December 28, their DNA samples were compared which resulted in the confirmation of their relation.
Jingwei talked to his mother through a video call after he got the results of the DNA test.
He recognised her mother instantly. “My mother and I have the same lips, even my teeth,” he said. They were finally reunited at a police station in Henan on January 1.
