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She was reunited with her son, Sun Haoqiang, 25, in Guiyang City, Guizhou Province, on May 14, through DNA matching technology, local outlet Red Star News reported.

When Sun was six, his parents ran a fruit stall at a local market in Guiyang and lived close by. He went missing while playing near their home on Jan. 28, 2007.

Zuo said she believed her son had been abducted, saying he was smart enough to not wander off on his own

Sun’s disappearance affected the family deeply. Zuo divorced her husband after six months of searching for their son and has lived alone since. She kept the fruit stall and retained ownership of the family’s former home throughout the 19-year search.

“This was where my son lived as a child. I was afraid he would return and be unable to find me, so I stayed here,” she said.

In Aug. 2013, volunteers from Baby Come Home, a Chinese non-profit that helps locate missing children and reunites them with their birth families, helped Zuo submit a blood sample to the national DNA database. Her ex-husband also provided a sample in 2018.

In 2024, authorities found a DNA match with a young man surnamed Xiao in Fujian Province but the verification process was halted after contact with him was lost. The case resurfaced in March 2026 during a reunion event for another recovered child in Baiyun District, Guiyang. Police then contacted volunteers in Fujian to help locate Xiao.

After discussions with volunteers and others around him, Xiao agreed to provide another blood sample on April 11. Results released on April 22 confirmed that he was Sun Haoqiang, who had been missing for 19 years.

Sun grew up in Fujian and learned at age 10 that he had been adopted. But limited financial means prevented him from searching for his biological family.

He said he doubted the police at first because his only childhood memory was of his family selling fruits. With support from his adoptive parents, he returned to Guiyang to meet his mother and plans to visit his father in the future.