China couple shocked to discover ‘dead’ son alive after 33 years, was raised by infertile relative of hospital director
- Wealthy mother has caesarean section, is told infant did not survive, baby raised in poverty by poor couple, told truth after ‘adoptive’ father dies
A couple in China who believed their son had died shortly after he was born, discovered more than three decades later that he was actually alive and well.
Zhang Huaiyuan, 33, raised in a poverty-stricken rural village in Anhui province, eastern China, was shocked to discover that he was adopted and that his biological parents were wealthy merchants from Zhejiang province in southeastern China.
Doctors told Zhang’s birth parents he was dead because he was born prematurely, but he had in fact been given to a relative of the hospital director who was unable to conceive.
Zhang grew up about 400 kilometres away from Zhejiang province where his birth parents live.
The couple who adopted him were in their 50s and the father was disabled, so Zhang faced financial hardship which meant he dropped out of school at 17.
It wasn’t until after his adoptive father’s death in 2023 that his adoptive mother told Zhang he was not their biological child.