A mother in Shanghai is offering a flat she owns in the city as a reward for information that helps her find her long-lost son who was abducted at the age of 4.
Tang Weihua, 55, and her husband, Wang Jie, have been looking for their only son, Wang Lei, for 26 years following his abduction in 1999.
Tang has announced on social media, where she has 1.2 million followers, that she would offer the flat as a bounty for effective clues that help find Wang Lei.
Property in Shanghai is expensive, with the price per square metre often exceeding 100,000 yuan (US$14,000).
Tang said the flat belonged to Wang Lei’s late grandfather, whose biggest wish was to see his only grandson again.
She said he would have agreed with their decision to give away the flat if he were alive.
Tang’s move attracted widespread attention online.
Many people are providing information about individuals who look like Wang Lei’s childhood photos.
Running an electrical shop in the 1990s, Tang’s family were considered affluent at the time.
She hired a man who begged her for work and taught him how to be a salesman. Instead, the man abducted her son.
The man, surnamed Lu, initially tried to call Tang to extort money from her, but no one answered his phone calls as they were too busy searching for their son.
Lu took the boy to southern China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.
He was arrested for theft a month later and confessed that he had abducted Wang Lei. However, he refused to disclose his whereabouts, and even gave misleading information to the police.
Lu was sentenced to life imprisonment but was released for good behaviour in 2022.
In 2023, Tang persuaded him to take her on a trip to Guangxi to retrace the route he took when he abducted Wang Lei in a bid to find clues about her missing son.
For the past two decades, Tang has visited Lu and his family every year, hoping to get information.
Tang says she hates Lu, but finding her boy is more important than provoking him.
Any information provided by Lu during the trip has been useless.
Tang has spent four million yuan (US$560,000) searching for her son and says her and her husband’s quest will not stop until their dying day.
China’s search for abducted children was given a boost after the country initiated the Tuanyuan (Reunion) Campaign in 2021.
It encouraged people who are suspicious about their origins to give their DNA to public security departments.
A number of children have been located as a result.
One of the most famous cases was the discovery of Sun Haiyang’s son, Sun Zhuo, in December 2021.
Tang’s unwavering search for her son has moved many people online.
“The human trafficker has started a new life, but the victim’s family is still suffering,” said one person.
“You have tried your best looking for your son, but please also try to be happy and healthy. I am sure your son also wishes you all the best, wherever he is,” said another. - SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
