BEIJING (SCMP): A woman in northern China discovered she was not her parents’ biological daughter after a DNA test was prompted by her colleagues’ joke that she “did not look local”.
As a result, there has been widespread support from netizens encouraging her to search for her birth parents.
On October 24, Henan Broadcasting System reported that the 24-year-old woman, surnamed Dong, from Xinxiang in Henan province, shared during an interview how her colleagues often commented on her distinctive appearance.
“I’ve always lived in Xinxiang, but after I started working, my colleagues would say, ‘You do not look like us at all. Your nose is wide, you have thick lips, and your eyes are bigger and deeper than ours. You do not look like someone from Henan at all,’” Dong recalled.
Prompted by these comments, Dong approached her parents for answers, but they were evasive and even provided conflicting information about her birth date.
Driven by a growing curiosity and confusion about her origins, Dong decided to take a genetic test.
“Every night, I kept wondering, where do I really come from?” Dong reflected.
However, the test indicated that she likely originated from Guangxi province, located in the far southern part of China, showing no genetic connections to Henan province.
After the media reported on the incident, a woman, surnamed Qi, from Guangxi reached out, suspecting that Dong might be her long-lost daughter due to their resemblance.
“It’s quite a coincidence that this young woman is also 24. I look at her and feel she resembles my daughter in every way, but I never saw my daughter after she was born. I experienced immense pain after giving birth and cried to my husband every day, wondering where my daughter went,” Qi recounted.
Qi’s son has even begun referring to Dong as his sister, saying: “My mum is nearly 100 per cent sure, and I want to find my sister too.”
Qi and Dong share a striking resemblance, including similar facial features. Dong’s given name also contains the word “Lan”, the same as that of Qi’s lost daughter.
“If it really turns out she’s my family, then it’s truly the most wonderful news,” Dong expressed.
Currently, Qi and her son are arranging to travel to Henan to meet Dong.
Local volunteers from Baobei Huijia, a national group dedicated to finding lost young people in Guangxi province, have also been contacted to assist in collecting DNA samples and conducting tests.
Chinese netizens marvelled at the coincidence and voiced their support for Dong’s quest to locate her birth parents.
“It’s important to clarify and figure out if she was kidnapped, sold, or legally adopted. The circumstances make all the difference!” one person commented.
“This is so dramatic, but I hope she just got lost and was not abandoned. That would be so hard to bear! Wishing this young woman finds her birth family soon and sending hugs to her,” another remarked. - SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
