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Stolen childhood

2014-10-20 08:58 Global Times Web Editor: Qian Ruisha
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For China's kidnapped infants, reuniting with their biological families means returning to a life they've never known

When Li Zhongxiang got the phone call from police saying that they may have found his son, he didn't know what to think.

He had been searching for his son for more than 14 years, ever since the boy was abducted as a 6-month-old infant from their home in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. He had quit his job as a labor contractor and sold most of his property in order to devote his time to tracking down leads about his son's whereabouts. His search had taken him all over the country, but for all his persistence, he had not been able to find any trace of his boy.

So when Li, 39, was told by police that they had found his son in Shenzhen, where Li still resided, he recoiled.

"When the police asked me whether I wanted to come with them to where he was living, I refused," said Li. "I thought that if he had a good life already, if he was happy where he was living, he may not want to be disturbed."

A paternity test was performed to confirm that the boy was indeed Li's biological son. The police told Li that his now 15-year-old son had dropped out of school, moved out of the house of the adoptive family who had bought him as an infant, and had fallen in with a group of delinquents and gangsters. He was working as a dishwasher to support himself.

"That night, I couldn't sleep," Li recalls. "I had to see him and bring him home, so he could have a proper upbringing and finish his education."

The next day, Li went to see his son and asked him if he wanted to come home. The boy was living in a cramped small room, barely large enough to fit a single bed and a desk.

"His [biological] mother was very emotional, and I also started crying," said Li. "People thought I was crazy. But I never thought about giving up."

Making up for lost time

Since the Ministry of Public Security declared a nationwide crackdown on child trafficking in 2009, police have rescued more than 54,000 children, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

In recent times, China's child trafficking problem has been well-documented. Although there are no comprehensive figures at present for how many children are abducted each year, a New York Times article in 2012 estimated that the number could be as high as 70,000. The article went on to say that abduction was especially prevalent in China's isolated rural areas, with the infants and toddlers who had been taken from their families sold off to unscrupulous orphanages, or directly to buyers. The majority of children abducted are boys, who are sold to buyers desperate for a male heir.

According to Li, the man who took his son moved into their neighborhood several months before the abduction, and gained the family's trust. One afternoon, while the boy's mother was out getting water, the man entered Li's unlocked home, took the child to a village seven kilometers away from Li's house, and fled.

Li's son was sold to a family that at the time had no male heir. But three years later, the mother of the family managed to conceive a son of her own, and he was sent instead to live with his adoptive family's grandparents.

It was only then that Li's son found out that the only parents he had any memory of were not his own.

"The grandparent told him that he was found abandoned in a rubbish heap," said Li. "But [the grandparent] were actually the one who put up the money to buy him."

Li's son developed a close relationship with the elderly couple. But after dropping out of primary school, he decided to move out on his own. Several months later, he was found by police, and then invited to live with his biological family.

As long and arduous a journey it was for Li to recover his son, it is only the beginning of a complicated process of reconciliation. Li's son has now been living with him for around one year.

"During the first week, he didn't talk much," said Li. "I showed him evidence to prove that we never gave up on him. I reassured him that this is his home and that I would protect him."

Li and his wife also have two daughters and one son who were all born after their eldest son was abducted.

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