Within days, he was put in touch with potential family members from the area, and according to VICE, he soon received a call from a woman who accurately described a scar on his chin that he had gotten while falling off a ladder as a boy.
DNA tests were taken. On 28 December, China’s Ministry of Public Security’s Office Against Human Trafficking confirmed that the pair were related and arranged for them to be reunited on the first day of the new year. Li’s father is no longer alive, they added.
“Thirty three years of waiting, countless nights of yearning, and finally a map hand-drawn from memory, this is the moment of perfect release after 13 days,” Li wrote happily on Douyin after the reunion.
“Thank you, everyone who has helped me reunite with my family.”