Mother Cries Tears of Joy After Daughter Who Went Missing 24 Years Ago is Found
On January 8, 1994, Wang Mingqing and Liu Dengying were selling fruit by the side of the road in Chengdu, China. Their 3-year-old daughter, Qifeng, was also with them.
It was an extremely busy day and Mr. Wang was helping a customer who needed change that Wang didn’t have. He went next door to another stand to get some for the customer.
When he returned, Qifeng was gone.
Thier world crumbled. They began yelling her name and asking everyone in sight if they had seen Qifeng.
Mr. Wang and his wife spent the next few years searching for their daughter by going to the police station and Children’s Welfare Home to sort through missing person records. They also bought newspaper ads and reached out to people on the internet.
In 2015, Mr. Wang became a taxi driver with Didi Chuxing. He put a large sticker on the back of his cab and passed out small business cards to his passengers hoping for new information.
He didn’t have a picture of Qifeng as a toddler so he used a picture of his other daughter because they looked similar.
Chinese media reported on his search. He said, “One day, my daughter may just be the person sitting in my car!”
Over the years, the police had found a few potential women who could’ve been Qifeng, but the DNA tests proved that none of them were.
Things changed last year when a police sketch artist reached out to Mr. Wang and his wife. He had heard about their story and wanted to help.
He sketched out what Qifeng would possibly look like as an adult and that sketch was circulated across the internet.
On the other side of the country, a woman named Kang Ying saw it and was amazed by how much the sketch looked like her. She had been raised by adoptive parents only 12 miles away from Chengdu who told her she was found on the side of the road.
Kang Ying reached out to Mr. Wang and they discovered that there were some undeniable similarities between her and Qifeng.
She had a small scar on her forehead and got nauseous whenever she cried. They quickly sent in a DNA test.
This one came back positive! Kang Ying was Qifeng!
Twenty-four years of searching had not gone to waste. Mr. Wang and his wife had finally found their daughter.
Kang Ying flew to Chengdu with her husband and two children on April 3, 2018, to meet her parents for the first time.
She saw her mother and gave her an emotional hug. Both of them were unable to hold back their tears. “The whole world told me I didn’t have a mother — but I do!” Kang Ying told reporters.
Mr. Wang told Bejing Youth Daily, “I can’t tell you how much hope, disappointment and despair we have gone through these past 24 years. Now we can finally meet again.”
Submit your story here, and subscribe to our best uplifting stories here.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
