Chinese influencer in Thailand shares trafficker-taken photos online to find birth family

A Chinese influencer based in Thailand has revealed details of her kidnapping as a child and shared old photos taken by human traffickers in a bid to find her biological family. Photo: SCMP composite/Douyin

SHANGHAI (SCMP): A Chinese online influencer based in Thailand has told how she was trafficked when she was a little girl and now hopes to find her biological family.

The woman in her early 20s, who is known as Aurora online, has 5 million followers on social media.

Influencer Aurora usually posts online content about her travels around Thailand. Photo: handout

She has also been dubbed “Sister Toufu” because of a viral video showing her buying the food, Jiupai News reported.

Her videos are usually about her life studying in Thailand, travelling across the country and trying Thai food.

On June 30, however, Aurora released a sad video in which she told of her kidnap ordeal.

She said she did not know where her biological family lived or what her original name was.

She did recall that her family was a happy one. Her biological parents loved her, while her brother and two sisters often took her to play near a creek.

When she was about five years old, her father took her to another city on a motorbike, where she was told to call another woman “mum”. They then lived together.

Aurora taught herself the Thai language and moved to Thailand in 2022. Photo: handout

Not long after that, Aurora was kidnapped by a woman while she was playing on the street. That woman took her to a village in central Henan province where she was sold to a man in his 50s.

According to Aurora, her adoptive father did not have a wife.

He hoped his adoptive child could excel in her studies and be admitted to a prestigious university.

However, Aurora did not study well, resulting in frequent beatings by her adoptive father.

Both he and his brother-in-law sexually assaulted her, she revealed.

Aurora said she had tried to kill herself but failed. Later, she went to study at a tertiary education institute and opened a shop on the internet to earn money to support herself.

Aurora, pictured with a flower in her hair, has revealed her dark and difficult past. Photo: handout

In 2022, Aurora went to Thailand to study after self-learning Thai.

“I often saw videos of people looking for biological families and of family reunions. For the past over 10 years, I have been thinking of my biological parents every day. So I got up the courage to do this video to share my own story,” Aurora said.

“I hope my parents, my brother, or my sisters can see my video and contact me,” she said.

She also released a picture of herself taken by the kidnapper at a railway station before they embarked on their journey to Henan.

Mainland Chinese internet users suggested the place could be Guangzhou North Railway Station in Guangdong province, southern China.

The influencer released a photograph of herself as a child which was taken by her kidnappers. The image has helped spark a police investigation in China. Photo: handout

In early July, Aurora returned to China and reported her case to police in Guangzhou. The investigation is ongoing.

“I will be content as long as I know how things are going with my parents and if they are healthy or not. I would like to tell them that no matter if they are rich or poor, I still love them,” Aurora said. - South China Morning Post