Father reunited with son abducted 24 YEARS ago after travelling 300,000 miles around China in search

Chinese parents have finally been reunited with their long-lost son after he was abducted by traffickers 24 years ago. 

Guo Xinzhen was snatched aged two in front of the family’s home in Shandong province in 1997.

His father Guo Gangtang, 51, has travelled 310,000 miles around China for the past two decades trying to find him and his search even inspired the 2015 film Lost and Love starring Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau. 

The alleged abductors had planned to kidnap a child with the intention of selling him for money.

Police finally tracked him down using DNA testing and the family reunited on Sunday in emotional scenes. 

A Chinese father has been reunited with his son who was abducted by traffickers 24 years ago after travelling 310,000 miles around China on a motorbike to find him

Guo Xinzhen’s mother wept when she was reunited with the son who now works as a teacher in Henan province

There were emotional scenes when the father and son reunited after 24 years in China on Sunday

Guo Gangtang’s son was snatched aged two in front of the family’s home in Shandong province in 1997 

Mr Guo (pictured in 2010) had travelled to more than 20 provinces around China on a motorbike with banners featuring his son’s picture chasing tip-offs for the past 24 years

Mr Guo had travelled to more than 20 provinces around China on a motorbike chasing tip-offs for the past 24 years.

During the search, he has broken bones, been involved in accidents and even encountered highway robbers.

The father carried around pictures of his son on banners at the bike of his motorbikes, ten of which have been damaged during his mission.  

Mr Guo spent his life-savings on the hunt, sleeping under bridges and begging for money, and he has also helped seven other parents reunite with their abducted children.

He became a prominent member of missing-persons organisations in China, where child abductions are a major problem with thousands taken every year. 

Speaking after they reunited, Mr Guo said: ‘Now that the child has been found, everything can only be happy from now on.’

According to local reports, Guo Xinzhen graduated from university and is now working as a teacher. 

The father has become a prominent member of missing-persons organisations in China and laid out scrolls featuring missing children 

The 51-year-old’s decades-long search for Guo Xinzhen even inspired the 2015 film Lost and Love starring Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau (pictured)

Guo Xinzhen’s alleged abductors, Mr Hu and Ms Tang, who were dating at the time, spotted Mr Guo’s son playing outside his home in 1997.

Ms Tang grabbed him and took him to a bus station where Mr Hu was waiting, police said.

The couple then took a coach to Henan province where they sold him.

The son is still living in the province and was finally reunited with his father and mother after 24 years apart.

Mr Guo spent his life-savings on the hunt, sleeping under bridges and begging for money

Police tracked him down using DNA and the two suspects have also been identified and arrested. 

Andy Lau also expressed his joy at the news, saying in a video online: ‘I admire your persistence and pay tribute to the years-long efforts of the public security department.’ 

An estimated 20,000 children are abducted every year in China with many sold into adoption.

Kidnapping and child trafficking became widespread in China from the 1980s, when the draconian one-child rule was enforced, and a cultural obsession with sons fuelled demand for abducted boys.

Since launching a DNA database of missing families in 2016, police say they have helped more than 2,600 individuals kidnapped as children – some over 60 years ago – to find their biological parents, the public security ministry said.