Li Xuwen wondered whether he would ever see his baby boy again.
For nearly two decades Li returned to Nanjing, where his son had been lost, four or five times a year in search of clues to his son's disappearance.
His efforts finally paid off. Sunday afternoon, Li and his wife received a letter from the China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption (CCCWA)， saying that their missing son, Li Xiang, had been adopted by an American family.
According to the CCCWA, Xiang, 24, is now a postgraduate student with a happy foster family, who said that they would respect Xiang's decisions related to his biological parents.
Not long after, the CCCWA delivered Li Xuwen's letter to Xiang, who had just finished his graduation examination.
"Our whole family is very happy, especially Xiang's mother, who is eager to see him and tell him how much she has missed him. However, it depends on him whether he will recognize us and come back to China," said Li.
Back in 1992, Li Xuwen and his wife Fu Guihua were migrant workers from Wuhu, Anhui Province. In May, when the farming season was at hand, Fu decided to take her son, the then six-year-old Xiang, home by train. When they arrived in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, early in the morning, Xiang was hungry and thirsty. Fu then went to a nearby store to buy water while leaving Xiang at a restaurant. When she returned, Xiang was gone.
After hearing the devastating news, Li Xuwen immediately rushed to Nanjing, where his search proved futile.
"I was quite ignorant then. If I had published a search notice or checked with the police or entered a case in the welfare shelter, I might have found him," recalled Li with great regret.
To keep in touch effectively local authorities, Li bought a mobile phone at 7,600 yuan ($1,174) in 1998, even though he made less than 20,000 yuan ($3,092) a year.
"I left my phone number wherever I went, hoping I would find a clue," said Li.
In 2007, Li was given hope. A police station in Nanjing said they had received a missing boy in May 1992, but had sent him to a welfare shelter two months later when nobody came to claim him.
According to the description, Li was quite sure that the boy was his son. He found the welfare center, but his hopes were smashed after learning that his son had been adopted by an American couple early in 1995.
"We were both happy and sad after hearing this," said Li, adding that "the welfare shelter did not know his American address, but we were already very glad to know that our baby was doing well."
In 2010, with the help of a relative, Li got more detailed information about his son, who thought he had been abandoned by his biological parents and did not want to recognize them.
Li then decided to get in touch with the American couple and explain to Xiang himself that "his biological parents had never abandoned him, and had actually been looking for him for years. He was not abandoned at all."
Li is still waiting for his son's response.
"My father still lives in Anhui. Every two or three days he will ask me whether I have found his grandson, which is his last and long-cherished wish. Sometimes when I have gone to weddings, I could not help but think of Xiang, who is now in his 20s and old enough to get married," Li added.
