Teenage girl back with her family after being kidnapped and sold in 2005

A girl who was abducted and sold by her kidnappers is back home with her family after her father spent 10 years looking for her in a desperate search across China. Cheng Ying was aged just six in 2005 when she was taken by traffickers in Xi’an City, the capital of northwest China’s Shaanxi province. When her father arrived at school to pick her up, she was nowhere to be seen and he called police. In the years since, Cheng Zhu has travelled across the country trying to find his daughter, putting photos of her on the internet so people would recognise her if they saw her.

The eight days were even harder for me than the past decade. I was so close to my child, within 10 metres, but I just couldn’t give her a hug.

Cheng Zhu

Cheng finally learned of his daughter’s whereabouts after she went online and was approached by a woman who offered to help her. The girl, who is now 15, revealed she had been kidnapped by a woman who sold her to a couple, in central China’s Henan Province. Ying said: “I think she can feel for me as she is a mother, so I told her my story. She found out files about my father looking for me, saying she might have found out my parents.” The teenager has now been reunited with her father, who had to wait for eight days for DNA confirmation despite recognising her immediately. Local police have now seized six suspects involved in the child-trafficking.

I think she can feel for me as she is a mother, so I told her my story. She found out files about my father looking for me, saying she might have found out my parents.

Cheng Ying

World