Oh, Sweet Day! Widowed Mother Finally Reunites With Her Son Who Was Abducted 25 Years Ago (Photos)

A woman who has searched endlessly for 25 whole years for her son who was abducted, has finally been reunited with him again.

 

Zhang Xuexia and her son, Song, reunite after 25 years

 

A widowed mother from China, Zhang Xuexia, broke down in tears of joy as she was united at last with her son who was abducted a quarter of a century ago as a toddler, after she never gave up hope of finding him.

According to People's Daily Online, Zhang, 51, from Guizhou, south-west China, spent the two-and-a-half decades since her son, Song, was kidnapped aged three in 1991 travelling the country to hand out leaflets and pamphlets asking for help.

 

Her husband's grief and guilt over their missing son led him to commit suicide in 2006, jumping from a building and leaving a heartbreaking note behind reading: 'I only want my son, Song Yangzhi'.

 

Five years ago the mother and son were very nearly reunited on social media, but a mix-up over the positioning of a crucial birthmark on his body made it seem as if the trail had gone cold.

 

Zhang Xuexia and her son

 

Song read about a woman looking for a child with a mole on his left arm and a birthmark on his left buttock. Zhang had mis-remembered: the marks were actually on his right arm and right buttock

 

The pair finally met up properly after Song saw her story by chance in Jinhua Daily newspaper, leading to a DNA test in Dujun, Guizhou Province to confirm the happy truth on March 4.

 

During the eventual tearful embrace between the two, Zhang said: 'Mum is so happy to find you - Mum is so happy to see you living well.'

 

Zhang and Song, when he was yet a boy

 

The 28-year-old's decision to follow his hunch and meet his mother was supported by his new family, who all but confirmed that he could be the one that Zhang had been searching for.

 

Song was abducted on December 29, 1991. Zhang and her husband had been travelling with their young child through the provinces when the crime took place outside a theatre near their home.

 

Recalling the day of the abduction, Song told reporters: 'Someone came over to give me a lollipop and carried me. Then I passed out. When I woke up, I was already on a train.'

 

Song, as a boy

 

He was sold to become the youngest of four siblings in his new family in rural Guangdong and now has two sons of his own, but said he always suspected he could be adopted.

 

Song said: 'For as long as I could remember, I knew I was adopted because the two poems I could recite were not taught by my adopted father: The Goose Song and Spring Dawn.'

 

He is now a successful business in Guangzhou and has built his own happy family. 

 

 Zhang travelled across China's major cities handing out information and pamphlets and lived in hope

 

Through the years, Zhang, with her best friend Zhang Guihong - whose own son was abducted in 2002 - had searched relentlessly across China for her child and said that giving up hope was not an option.

 

She had even taken to walking the streets of Chinese cities with a placard hanging around her neck and scraps of information from police about trafficking, asking if anyone had seen her precious son.

 

Child abduction is a long-standing problem and serious in China - with official sources estimating that around 20,000 children are kidnapped in the country each year.