A chance discovery on a short-video-sharing platform reunited two Chinese women who believe they are twins separated at birth 20 years ago.
Recently, 20-year-old Shenzhen resident Luo posted a video documenting her reunion with a woman she believed to be her identical twin sister, a sibling she never knew she had.
While scrolling through Douyin, Luo’s cousin came across an account belonging to a woman surnamed Xia whose face bore a striking resemblance to Luo’s.
Stunned by the similarity, the cousin sent Luo the account profile. Luo was floored: Xia not only looked like her but also shared her build and mannerisms – and even had the same distinctive dental quirk.
Convinced they might be related, Luo sent Xia a private message.
The similarities soon mounted. Both were born on the same day in Sichuan province, stood 173cm tall, wore similar short hairstyles and had a similar sense of style.
Luo grew up in Sichuan before moving to Shenzhen, where Xia had been living all along.
When the two asked their families, their adoptive parents confirmed that both had been adopted as infants.
According to Xia, their biological parents already had two older daughters when the twins were born. Their father was reportedly a compulsive gambler.
Shortly after the birth, their biological parents encountered a couple while walking through their residential compound and handed Xia over to them. Luo was given away around the same time.
After piecing together their histories, the sisters arranged an emotional reunion in person.
They went shopping, had dinner and celebrated their shared birthday before putting their resemblance to an unusual test: each could unlock the other’s phone using facial recognition.
However, they have yet to obtain definitive proof of their biological relationship.
Doctors told them that confirming whether they were identical twins would require genetic testing involving their biological parents.
Unable to contact their birth family, the sisters gave up on the testing. Neither set of adoptive parents has commented publicly.
The reunion video has gone viral on mainland social media, attracting more than 1.5 million likes.
“A storyline like this is even more unbelievable than fiction. This must be the destiny of true sisters,” one online user remarked.
Another called it “a genetic miracle,” adding: “There can’t be many cases like this in the world. They are truly fortunate.”
Others, however, questioned whether the story had been staged as a publicity stunt.
“There are too many coincidences. Is this really not scripted?” one netizen asked.
In a follow-up video, Xia hit back at the sceptics, saying: “To me, Luo is my real sister. I love you. I don’t care what others think.”
Sun Tianbao, a lawyer at Beijing Jingshi Law Firm, warned that even if the sisters are biologically related, fabricating a “miraculous reunion” story to build an online following and profit from live-stream e-commerce could amount to civil fraud. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
