Man finds parents after being taken away by officials 31 yrs ago

Zou Yuhua (left) and Zhang Mingfa pose in their feed store on January 26. Photo: The Beijing News

Zou Yuhua and her husband spared no effort to look for their second baby who was taken away by local family planning officials 31 years ago.

Knowing that the baby was adopted by a family in the same city, they searched every street in Jianyang, in Southwest China's Sichuan Province.

For nine years, the couple raised a boy they thought was their lost son but later proved otherwise.

It was not until November last year that the couple eventually found their lost son, who had been sending out flyers looking for his biological parents throughout the counties and townships in Jianyang.

'How I lost my son'

In May 1983, 27-year-old Zou gave birth to a second baby boy in Wolong village in Jianyang. At the time, Zou was already mother of a 3-year-old son.

Unfortunately, the birth violated China's one-child family planning policy.

Local officials told Zou and her husband Zhang Mingfa that they must pay a hefty fine or risk their second child being taken away.

To keep their second child, Zhang was forced to undergo a vasectomy. In addition, the land they had under contract was confiscated, and they also faced a penalty of approximately 1,600 yuan ($256), a huge amount given that a government official in Zhang's county on average only made about 30 yuan per month at the time.

With borrowed money from relatives and friends, Zhang was eventually able to pay the fine. However, when the couple was about to register their second son under their household, more than 50 family planning officials and police officers raided their home. Without giving an explanation, the officials returned the money and took away the baby.

One of the officials confirmed the story with The Beijing News, adding that two babies were taken away in 1983 and Zhang's boy was one of them. However, no record could be found from Jianyang Family Planning Bureau.

The couple's story was uncommon even during the 1980s. Most couples were allowed to keep their second child after paying a fine.

Five days after the baby was taken away, Zhang was forced to make a self-criticism speech in front of the entire village for violation of the country's one-child policy. Later that year, the couple left the village and moved to Jiajia county where Zhang made a living by selling pig feed.

Close to home

It was about 9:30 am on November 28, 2014. Zhang and his wife were having a late breakfast.

Three old ladies hired by Yuan Ying (pseudonym), their long-lost son, were distributing flyers roughly 1 kilometer from Zhang's feed store.

Yuan's home was less than 50 kilometers from Jiajia county. Ever since he was 5, Yuan had learned from his foster parents that he was adopted from the local family planning agency.

"My foster parents had two children before me. Both of them had died. They were very kind to me," Yuan said.

After getting married and having his own child, the desire to meet his biological parents grew stronger.

"I just want to know who they are. If I don't do it now, it might be too late," Yuan said.

Since October 2013, Yuan had been looking for clues about his parents from the family planning agency. The bureau kept few records from the 1980s and Yuan couldn't find any useful information in its archives.

In March last year, Yuan received a call from the agency informing him that there might be a matching family. But after the DNA test, both Yuan and the family were disappointed.

On November 24, Yuan printed 50,000 flyers and hired three old ladies to send them out on street.

"There are 55 counties in Jianyang. If I send out enough flyers, I know I can find my biological parents," Yuan said.

Not my child

Jiajia was the 11th county where Yuan distributed flyers.

That morning, Zou's neighbor happened to pick up a flyer in front of the county's middle school. He passed that flyer to Zou.

Of all those years, Zou never stopped thinking about her lost son. "Maybe he's married. Maybe he already has kids."

After the baby was taken away, the couple received a tip that a local bachelor surnamed Wang had adopted a baby boy. Before Zhang could find the bachelor, local government approached him and warned him not to proceed further.

"They said it's illegal to look for my other son," Zhang said.

To their great surprise, Wang later came to them with a 14-year-old boy in 1997. "He said it's our son and he couldn't afford to raise him anymore."

But a DNA test showed that the boy was not Zhang's son.

The couple still tried their best to raise the boy. They sent him to schools. Later he joined the army. After the discharge, the couple bought him a shipping van with all their savings so that he can run a small transportation business. But in 2009, the boy left home without a trace. He hasn't contacted the couple since.

Zhang and Zou were heartbroken but said it was not the boy's fault. "Maybe he knows that we are not related and he is out looking for his biological parents."

The couple stopped mentioning their second son. They acted as if they have never had a second baby, until Yuan's flyer re-ignited Zou's hope.

After contacted Yuan, the couple and Yuan had a DNA test which proved Yuan was their long-lost son.

Yuan rushed to the couple's home the moment he received the test result, shouting "Dad and Mom" to Zhang and Zou.