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He Youquan is reunited with his birth mother 16 years after being snatched from his home in Yunnan province. Photo: Handout

Chinese teenager reunited with family 16 years after being snatched from his home

DNA database helps police to trace child who grew up with an elderly couple 2,000km from his place of birth

A 19-year-old man from southwest China has been reunited with his family more than 16 years after being snatched from his home, local media reported.

The reunion took place on Monday in a rural village in Daguan county, Yunnan province, Chuncheng Evening News reported on Thursday.

He Youquan was abducted from his home in 2001 by three masked men. His family had no idea what had happened to the child, but it emerged later that he had been moved 2,000km to a village in southeastern China’s Fujian province by traffickers.

Once there, he was “adopted” by an elderly couple and renamed Wu Zihui. His adoptive father died soon after and he was left in the care of his aged adoptive mother.

His family never gave up trying to find He, however. When his natural father fell ill and his mother was forced to take care of him, the task of looking for their lost brother fell to He’s three older sisters.

“My mother told me to check at a blood bank to see if he had ever given a sample,” He’s sister He Youxiu said.

Although the blood bank was unable to find He, state police finally tracked him down via the abducted persons’ DNA database. Luckily, He had donated his DNA to the database when he discovered he had been adopted.

When asked about his future plans, the young man said he would spend the Mid-Autumn Festival with his biological family before returning to Fujian to care for his elderly adoptive mother.

He said he would return to Yunnan to see his biological family whenever he had the time.

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