This is a story with a happy ending - even though it took a long time to come to fruition. For the past 23 years, Shi Chunxin has been helping families across China find their missing children. But last month, this man made the most important discovery of all - his own daughter.
On June 5, the 48-year-old finally found his daughter, Shi Ke, who was kidnapped more than 20 years ago when she was little.
"Hello everyone, I am Shi Ke's father. Shi Ke has been found," he said in a video published by The Paper newspaper.
This family's life changed forever on April 15, 2001 - the day they became one of thousands of Chinese families victimized by human trafficking.
At the time, Shi Chunxin's wife was riding a bicycle in her hometown in Henan Province, central China. A neighbor's daughter was sitting behind her in the trailer, holding Shi Ke, then just a baby.
Then, a motorbike suddenly stopped next to them and two people reached out, taking Shi Ke. Before the mother could react, they were already gone.
At the time, the chances of finding a kidnapped child were slim. But Shi Chunxin refused to give up hope, beginning a relentless search that would lead him to become a spokesperson for the parents of missing children in China.
For years, Shi crisscrossed the country, handing out flyers, posting missing persons notices and appearing on television shows dedicated to finding victims of human trafficking. He drove from town to town in a van filled with posters of his daughter and other missing children, hoping to raise public awareness and find clues to the children's whereabouts, says Sixth Tone.
Over the years, Shi and his wife met with more than 100 girls who had been identified as potentially matching their daughter's description. But, with each encounter, his hopes were dashed.
The couple had two children, but never stopped looking for Shi Ke. In 2020, Shi Chunxin created an account on the Chinese version of TikTok - Douyin - and began live streaming her daily efforts to find her daughter.
Through the account, which Shi named 'Searching for Daughter Shi Ke', the father established contact with many other families with missing children and began looking for clues that could help them. These efforts have led to several families reuniting - although, unfortunately, not yours.
"In my 23 years and 46 days searching for Shi Ke, I have helped 10 families find their loved ones," Shi told The Paper.
However, on May 27, Shi finally received the news that she was expecting. The police called and informed him that his daughter had been found after a DNA comparison.
After confirming that Shi Ke was willing to reunite with them, Shi Chunxin and his wife began to organize a reunion. They bought him gifts and planned a banquet to reintroduce Shi Ke to his friends and family.
It is not known for sure what Shi Ke's life was like after her abduction. The Shi family preferred to allow their daughter to protect her privacy, with Shi Chunxin only saying that she was still studying.
In early June, Shi Ke appeared in front of the cameras wearing a baseball cap, a mask and sunglasses. In contrast to her smiling father, the young woman appeared visibly nervous. "I want to thank my biological parents for looking for me over the past 20 years and also everyone who helped me," said Shi Ke.
After the reunion, Shi Chunxin changed the name of her Douyin account to 'Shi Ke Has Been Found' - 'Shi Ke was found'. In a recently published video, she showed off the Father's Day gift her daughter had given her - an electric shaver.
In recent years, China has been stepping up efforts to combat human trafficking. According to the Ministry of Public Security, the platform it created to share information about missing children had received 5,189 tips as of May 15, which led to the recovery of 5,113 missing children.
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