Elephant News Oriental Today reporter Mi Fangjie
When he was 4 years old, Li Jingwei was abducted by a neighbor, took a train for a day and a night, and was sold to Lankao, Henan. On December 15, he took a map of his hometown drawn from memory and sent out a video of his search with the help of Douyin search volunteers.
Unexpectedly, less than half a month later, the DNA identification results came out, and he found his biological mother. On the first day of 2022, Li Jingwei and his mother met. Mother and son hugged each other for 33 years of separation and reunion.
Hand-drawn map of hometown, search for loved ones on TikTok
Because he was too young when he was abducted, Li Jingwei could not remember his original name, nor the names of his parents, but he still clearly remembered the landform of his hometown, "In front of the house there are ponds, bamboo forests, paddy fields, dry land and low tile houses, and there are rolling mountains behind the house..."
He also remembers that the people in his hometown called "navel orange" "broad orange". For 33 years, Li Jingwei has repeated these hometown memories in his mind several times a day. Because this is the only proof to find your hometown and find your parents.
Hand-painted homeland landforms
But it also left him tormented internally. Li Jingwei recalled that because he remembered that he was abducted and sold, from childhood to adulthood, there was always a certain gap between himself and his adoptive parents. "Unspeakable, but real."
On December 15, he paid attention to the video of the Douyin searching volunteers, so he used a pen to draw the hometown landform that had been reproduced countless times in his mind, with his own information, and asked the other party to help him publish the search video.
A lot of news came like snowflakes. A middle-aged woman in Hunan called him by video, claiming to be Li Jingwei's mother. "The handsome man is coming back soon, and if he doesn't come back, his mother won't be happy!" Li Jingwei couldn't say anything.
He found that his abduction time did not match the woman's son, but the other party insisted that it was. Li Jingwei and her did DNA tests and confirmed that there was no blood relationship. But he couldn't bear to tell the "mother" who desperately wanted her son to come home.
Douyin search volunteers released a family search video for Li Jingwei
"It doesn't matter if you don't find a home, you give her hope and personally extinguish it, I'm not looking for a home, I'm hurting people!" Li Jingwei cried. In the past, he used to look for a home because of pain, but he didn't expect that "every step of the way to find a home is very painful." ”
"If your parents are still alive, they must be looking forward to you coming home every day." If you continue to search, there is hope, and if you give up, you may not have the opportunity to see each other in this life. The Douyin search staff comforted him and released a number of family search videos in succession, and many media also followed up the report.
Previously, the police in Lankao, Henan, had helped Li Jingwei collect blood and put it into the warehouse, and found that his hometown was likely to be in Yibin, Sichuan or Zhaotong, Yunnan. Noticing the video of the search for relatives on Douyin, the Lankao police visited Yunnan and confirmed that he was a Zhaotong person. On December 28, DNA identification confirmed his blood relationship with his mother.
Mother and child are only more than a hundred miles apart, and tears are spilled to recognize the scene
At the scene of The recognition of relatives in Lankao, Henan, under the witness of dozens of people, Li Jingwei walked towards his mother on the opposite side. Before he could get there, he knelt down and didn't get up for a few seconds. His mother was anxious to help him up, but she was too sad and leaned over.
The crowd lifted Mother Li up. Li Jingwei blushed and knelt down again. "Mommy misses you all day." In a sob, mom kept repeating, "I didn't expect to see you again." Li Jingwei did not hold back, roared to the sky, and cried in his mother's arms.
Recognize the scene
After the mood calmed down, Li Jingwei took a large family to eat together, and his adoptive parents were too old to be taken with him. Li Jingwei finally drank reunion wine with his biological mother as he imagined, and then came to take a picture with her after a while.
"Finally know your birthday." In the past, Li Jingwei knew that the birthday on his ID card was not real, and every time he had a birthday, he constantly recalled the painful memory of being abducted. Now, he has found his real name, Li Fangfu, and he also knows his real birthday.
Mr. Li learned that he had a large family— in Zhaotong, Yunnan, where his parents had raised an older sister, a younger sister, and two younger brothers. However, the eldest sister and the third brother were unfortunately washed away in 2009 when watching the tide of the Qiantang River. He was deeply impressed by the news, the deceased's "Li" surname was very similar to his own "Li", and he was sad about this connection.
To his deploration, his father died of depression 18 years ago after searching for himself. After the death of her father, her mother took several children and remarried to Zhoukou, Henan. Zhoukou is only more than 100 kilometers away from Lankao, and Li Jingwei has traveled there many times on business, but he did not expect that his heart and mind had found relatives for so long, and the distance was so close.
Li Jingwei (Lai Fangfu) as a child
Why is the day of recognition set for the first day of 2022? Li Jingwei said: "After being abducted for 33 years, this day is a new beginning for myself and my family. When a family portrait was taken after drinking and eating, everyone shouted, "Welcome home." ”