An eight-year-old Iranian boy who left his primary school in China for his mother country in January and later lost contact with his teachers for 42 days has returned to the campus, thrilling his classmates.
On April 27, when the boy named Radin, dressed in the school’s uniform, appeared in a classroom at Shaoxing Boya International School, his excited classmates all came to hug him closely, the Yueniu News reported.
“I asked my teacher not to tell them the news so this could be a surprise,” Radin told the media.
“When I was in Iran, I hoped to return to China every day. I love all of you. I missed everyone here,” added the boy.
Radin’s parents have been running a trading business in Shaoxing, eastern Zhejiang province, for three years.
In early January, Radin’s older brother and his mother went to Iran to deal with some business.
On January 15, Radin’s father took the boy back to Iran because his mother called asking them to return to their motherland because war might break out at any time.
In late February, Radin’s mother told his teacher via a social media app that they planned to return to China about 20 days later.
But the family’s planned return to China was not realised because the US and Israel jointly launched air strikes on Iran on February 28.
After that, Radin lost contact with his teachers.
This state of affairs lasted until April 11 when Radin’s mother sent out a message: “Thank God. We are fine. Finally I can talk to you again.”
Days later, she said they had bought the plane tickets to Shanghai for April 22 and that Radin might return to the school on April 27.
Luckily, as planned, Radin and his mother landed in Shanghai on April 23, after flying from Turkey.
According to Radin’s teacher Song Jiaqing, the pupils in his class kept asking when Radin would return. She told them to draw pictures or write messages to update him on what had happened in the class while he was absent.
Song collected the pictures and compiled them into a large book which was sent to Radin as a gift upon his return.
A boy called Eric who has become Radin’s good friend since they both like playing football said to him: “I thought we could only meet in the next semester. We will have a football class today. Let’s compete to see who plays better now.”
Radin’s mother thanked the school by saying: “Thank you for waiting. Thank you for everything you have done for us.”
“During the past two months when we were in Iran, we were in low spirits because of the war. We often heard bombs. We wanted to return to China as soon as possible. We have our careers here and Radin has friends here. Here, he can focus on studying.”
The news, which has been viewed around 20 million times on social media, resonated deeply in mainland China.
“The scene of all pupils flocking to hug the boy is so touching. What a warm reunion. I hope for world peace and I hope every kid can be carefree,” said one internet user. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
