Chinese Parents Reunite with Son Who Was Abducted 14 Years Ago and Inspired Hit Movie
Miao Ruizhe/Red Star News/VCG via Getty
A Chinese couple who never gave up searching for their abducted son have finally reunited with him for the first time since he went missing in 2007.
According to CNN, Sun Zhuo was abducted in 2007 when he was 4 years old while in the city of Shenzhen. Since his disappearance, his parents — father Sun Haiyang and mother Peng Siying — held on to hope they would see their son again.
Over the years, the couple — who looked in nearly every region of China — sold off properties to fund their search efforts, and offered a reward of up to $31,000 for any leads to help in Sun's return, CNN reported, citing Chinese state media.
"I was ready to spend all my money, and even borrow money," Haiyang told the South China Morning Post in a past interview.
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The couple's story inspired a 2014 human trafficking film called Dearest, which grossed over $50 million in the box office, according to IMDb.
After more than a decade of waiting, the parents were finally reunited with Sun on Monday, according to the South China Morning Post.
The outlet said authorities were able to positively identify Sun, now 18, using a DNA test.
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"After 14 years and 57 days, he is a head taller than his mother. He brought us local specialties from where he lives now," Haiyang wrote on social media following the reunion, the South China Morning Post reported. "He is the Sun Zhuo that all of us have looked for all these years …"
A video posted to the outlet's YouTube channel showed Haiyang crying out in happiness as he gave his son a hug for the first time in 14 years.
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Authorities have accused a suspect, with the last name Wu, of abducting the boy and selling him to a couple in Eastern China who already had two daughters, CNN and the South China Morning Post reported.
According to CNN, Sun said he would stay with the family who raised him over the last decade since he was previously unaware they were not his birth parents.
Wu has been detained in relation to the abduction of Sun and one other child, and the couple who worked with Wu to bring Sun into their home have been released on bail pending a trial, according to the outlet.
