Guo Gangtang and Zhang Wenge never gave up hope that they would be reunited with their missing son, Guo Xinzhen — and after 24 years, their family is back together again.
When Xinzhen was two years old, he was abducted from outside his family's home south of Beijing, Inside Edition reports. Hundreds of volunteers tried to find the toddler, with no luck. Gangtang did everything he could to bring awareness to his son's case, and ended up riding 300,000 miles across China by motorcycle so he could visit every province and pass out flyers showing a picture of Xinzhen.
While he didn't track down Xinzhen, Gangtang did find other children who had been kidnapped, and reunited them with their families, China's state-run Xinhua News reports. Gangtang's dedication caught the attention of movie producers, who turned his story into the 2015 film Lost and Love. When the movie came out, he told reporters that it was "impossible" for him to stop searching for his son, and had no plans of ever giving up until he had been found.
DNA testing conducted earlier this year by China's Ministry of Public Service found a potential match to Xinzhen in the province next to where his parents live, and further testing revealed that it was him. Xinzhen, now 26 and a teacher, had a tearful reunion with his parents on Sunday.