After vanishing from a market near her home 35 years ago, a woman in southern China has finally been reunited with her birth family.
However, injuries found on her face and the failure of nearby broadcast appeals to reach her parents fuelled online speculation about how she disappeared.
Zhong Fenglin, 37, once lived near a market in Nanning, Guangxi, where her parents sold ginger and garlic.
In 1991, her father took the two-year-old to his vegetable stall. Unable to watch her while working, he gave her money to buy food.
Zhong wandered through the crowd and crossed the street into another market, where she had gone missing.
A clothing vendor found the crying toddler and took pity on her. She later recalled that the girl had scratch marks and a scar on her face.
After leaving her contact details with the market office, the vendor asked staff to broadcast appeals for the child’s family, but no one came forward.
Initial local reports claimed the vendor took Zhong home, just a street away from her childhood home.
Hongxing News later verified that the vendor, unable to find Zhong’s family at the nearby market, took her to another city and raised her under a new name.
Zhong grew up surrounded by the love of her adoptive parents and elder brother. She is now married and has an eight-year-old daughter.
Her birth parents reportedly searched for her for decades, while her younger sister registered her details with Baby Come Home, a Chinese non-profit platform that helps missing children reunite with their families.
Zhong’s father died in 2024, with his final wish to see her again remaining unfulfilled. In his final days, he reportedly asked his younger daughter: “Have you found your sister yet?”
The injuries Zhong had when she was found led her to believe she had been abandoned, although the cause has not been disclosed.
She nearly gave up the search before volunteers reassured her and persuaded her to make her case public.
On April 12, Zhong registered with Baby Come Home and was contacted shortly after. A woman noticed that Zhong’s appearance closely resembled her family’s long-lost sister. A DNA test later confirmed the relationship.
On July 7, Zhong travelled to her hometown, Yulin, for a reunion. Holding a bouquet, she embraced her birth mother and tearfully said: “I thought I would never see you again in this lifetime.”
Zhong said she would spend time with her birth family after the reunion and visit them regularly.
The reunion stirred debate on mainland social media.
“They were separated by only a street, yet never found each other. It is heartbreaking,” one observer wrote.
“No responsible father would send a two-year-old out alone to buy food. If she vanished so close to home, why did no one answer the market announcements? Was she truly lost, or did her father abandon her and later regret it?” another asked.
A third wrote: “Whatever happened, she was raised by a loving family and has now found her birth mother. She can begin a new chapter.” -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
