An emotional reunion 24 years in the making took place in Chengdu, China. Wang Mingquing and his wife, Liu Dengying, embraced their daughter for the first time since she went missing when she was three years old.
Wang last saw his daughter in 1994 at his roadside fruit stand. He needed change for a customer, so he stepped away to a nearby stand for a moment. When he returned, she was gone. He has been desperately searching ever since. Over the years he has taken out advertisements in the newspaper and made pleas online to get his story out.
In 2015 he quit his job and went to work as a taxi driver so he could get more exposure for his search. He put a big poster in the window with the pertinent information. He also handed out cards to each fare he met. Overall, it is estimated that he gave out over 5,000 cards and always asked the patrons to share his story online. “One day,” he said, “my daughter may just be the person sitting in my car!” His desperation got the attention of the media which ultimately led to their reunion.
Kang’s adoptive father told her he found her on the side of the road. He said she had no mother. She has been looking for her parents her whole life but had no information to go on. Incredibly, she grew up 12 miles from where she went missing, not knowing her biological parents were searching for her.
Because of Wang’s desperate search to find his daughter, his efforts finally caught the eye of the media. A sketch artist heard about Wang and Liu’s story to find their daughter, and he took it upon himself to do an age progression sketch of the girl. It was released online last year.
When Kang Ying (27) saw it, she was taken by surprise because of the similarities to her own appearance. She contacted Wang and took a DNA test from the police. The rest came back positive, and she was ecstatic. She flew with her husband and daughter to meet her long-lost birth parents. Upon her arrival she yelled, “Dad, Mom, I’ve come home!”
