In the boxy courtyard, there are water pots and stone mills, there are ponds and bamboo forests outside the courtyard, and there are terraces and mountain roads in the distance... Li Jingwei, a man who was abducted from Yunnan to Kaifeng, Henan, when he was 4 years old, still clearly remembers the environmental and landform of his hometown, and from the day he was abducted, he often took a stick and painted the appearance of his hometown on the ground, afraid that he would forget it.
33 years later, seeing the success of Guo Gangtang and Sun Haiyang's search for a son, he was more determined to find his relatives, and spent ten minutes drawing a hand-drawn drawing of his hometown and posted it on the Internet to find relatives, thinking that it would take several years, but he did not expect to find the information of The suspected birth mother of Zhaotong in Yunnan soon after.
Li Jingwei's hand-drawn map. Source: Respondents
Li Jingwei said that in the previous calls and videos, he could hear his mother's voice and recognized her appearance at a glance. "My mother's lips are exactly the same, even my teeth are the same."
On December 29, Li Jingwei told The Paper www.thepaper.cn that he and his birth mother's DNA were successfully compared. When he heard the news, he calmed down for a minute, and then he couldn't sit still anymore. "My mouth is moving, but I can't speak."
According to media reports, Li Jingwei's birth mother said that after the child was abducted, she searched for fruitless results in Yunnan, Sichuan and other places, life was very difficult, a few years ago, the eldest son's family and eldest daughter died unexpectedly, last year, her 11-year-old grandson also accidentally fell into the well and died. "Fortunately, God opened my eyes and let me find my abducted son." She said.
Li Jingwei released a family search video
Here's a conversation with Lee King Wai:
When he was 4 years old, he was abducted by a "bald neighbor" and used a stick to paint his hometown scene on the ground
The Paper: Do you remember being abducted?
Li Jingwei: I was abducted around 1988, when I was 4 years old.
The one who kidnapped me was a bald uncle, and I knew him, so I was defenseless against him. He took me from home to Houshan, and then a few young people took me to the township for two days, and then let a man and a woman (middle-aged people in their forties) take me away, and finally (they) bought me new clothes, took a day and a night train, and came to a family in Henan (now the adoptive parents' house).
At present, this bald uncle has not been found.
The Paper: When did you realize you had been abducted?
Li Jingwei: I realized it within two hours of being taken away, because they were getting farther and farther away. At that time, I had not yet gone to school, and although I remembered the road from home, I did not know the name of the road, nor did I know the name of the area of my hometown, not even my own name and the names of my parents. That's when I realized I might not be able to go home.
The Paper: In the more than 30 years of abduction, how did you remember and hand-paint the appearance of your hometown?
Li Jingwei: After I was abducted, I thought that one day I would go home, but I don't remember the name of my hometown, I can only try to remember what it looks like. When I was in a bad mood when I was a child, my desire to miss home became stronger and stronger, and I would take a stick and paint scenes from my hometown on the ground. I developed the habit of painting at least once a day.
The Paper: What other impressions do you have of your hometown?
Li Jingwei: I know the trees, stones, cattle at home, and even which road turns and where the water flows.
At that time, my house was a large earthen wall and grass roof, surrounded by drainage ditches, facing the right side of the house was a stove, there was a wooden ladder on the left hand side of the entrance door, the main hall house had a wooden handle stone mill, and on the far left was the bedroom and warehouse. Opposite the residence is a large wooden house, where an old grandfather lives, and directly under the yard parapet is a pond and paddy field. My family is in the valley, there is a road high in the back mountain, the village is about seventy meters wide river about a kilometer down, the road behind the mountain often has a big truck overturned, my father also helps others pick up fallen bananas and oil barrels.
I remember that my hometown has fruits called cantonese, black buffalo, rice, corn, and sweet potatoes. Corn cobs are placed on rice to cover the mash, and there is a kind of white round sweet potato suspected of being a sand ge, which is very sweet after peeling, and the hemp used for weaving hemp rope is planted. There are moso bamboo on the mountain, and there are bamboo shoots dug. On cold days, my mother would roast oranges on the stove for me.
The Paper: Do you have a better memory since childhood?
Li Jingwei: I don't know why my memory is so good, usually some short film text I read a few times can be memorized word for word, it should be practiced from a young age. In addition, if you think about going home every day, you will naturally remember these things, which is an instinct.
"After the DNA comparison was successful, my mouth was moving but I couldn't speak."
The Paper: When did you start looking for relatives?
Li Jingwei: Growing up, I was homesick and wanted to find my biological parents. In my memory, my face, eyes and forehead resembled dad's, my lips resembled mom's, and I remember my sister and brother, and several children used to play together.
But when I was a student, I didn't know anything, the Internet wasn't as developed as it is now, and I wasn't sure if I really went to my parents. When I was a student, I asked my adoptive parents (my birthplace), and the adoptive parents said that they didn't know either, and the traffickers didn't tell them the truth, so it was difficult to follow the clues.
I think that everything needs to be safe and grow yourself first. Leaving [home] is already doomed, I have to take care of the people around me first, especially since I already have a daughter-in-law and children, I want to settle them first.
At that time, I didn't know the technology of DNA contrast, and I always felt that finding relatives was like finding a needle in a haystack, and it would definitely cost a lot of money, so I went to Guangdong to break in and make money desperately.
The Paper: How did you come up with the idea of hand-drawn maps to find relatives?
Li Jingwei: This year, I did a DNA blood collection, but there has been no comparison result. I thought that I couldn't rely on this alone, especially after seeing the news of Guo Gangtang and Sun Haiyang's success in searching for a son, I wanted to find relatives through other methods. Usually, I was like no one, but as soon as I saw this news, my emotions would explode, so I thought of asking the outside world for help.
Later, I found Gan Biao, a volunteer searching for relatives, who replied to me and helped me post a video of my search. After the promotion of the short video platform and media reports, the Ministry of Public Security also contacted me and carried out the work at the first time.
The Paper: When did you contact your birth mother?
Li Jingwei: A few days before the DNA comparison, I contacted my mother.
I was the most excited at the moment the phone was answered, my mom cried as soon as she answered the phone, and I could hear her voice. After the video call, I recognized her at a glance, and I had exactly the same lips as my mother, even my teeth.
98% of what we recalled on the call matched, including the house I painted, which is still the same, but no one lives there.
There were some details I didn't know, and as soon as she said it, I was impressed. For example, she said that when we were young, we walked together on a mountain road, and there was a drunk man across from us with a flashlight and shouting, and my mother dragged us to hide in the woods. At that time, we were very sure that the other party was a relative.
The Paper: How do you feel when the DNA results come out?
Li Jingwei: When the DNA results came out, I was still in a meeting, and I was very calm for a minute, but after a while I couldn't sit still, so I rushed out and ran into our leader, and he didn't see me right. I think that without experiencing it firsthand, I can't experience the feeling of having a bare mouth but not being able to speak.
On New Year's Day, I will meet my mother in Henan
The Paper: What is the current situation of mothers and families?
Li Jingwei: When I was abducted, my mother was only about 20 years old, and she worked outside the home all these years, which was also very hard. My father is gone, my mother went to live in Zhoukou, Henan Province many years ago, and there is a younger brother in the family.
I also have a little aunt who grew up living in my house and plays with me every day, and I used to think she was my eldest sister. She was also abducted, but had already read books when she was abducted and later found her home.
The Paper: How do your adoptive parents view your search for relatives?
Li Jingwei: My adoptive parents are very good, they have taught me the principles of being a person since I was a child, let me study well, and become a talent in the future. Later, I studied and started a family.
They're in their 70s, so when I first started looking for relatives, I didn't tell them, I was afraid that if I couldn't find them, I would make them sad. After the results of the DNA comparison were announced on the evening of December 28, my sister told them about the results.
The Paper: When will I meet my mother?
Li Jingwei: During New Year's Day, I will meet my mother in Lankao, Henan.