Guo Gangtang spent 15 years travelling around China on a motorbike looking for his son, who was abducted when he was just two

In 2015, Andy Lau starred in a heart-wrenching movie based on a real-life story of a Chinese man who spent 15 years searching for his son, who’d been abducted at the age of two.

Titled Lost And Love, the movie, which also starred Chinese actor Jing Boran, garnered rave reviews. According to reports at that time, Andy was very invested in the movie’s plot, and was “deeply touched” after hearing the story of Guo Gangtang, whose life inspired the movie.

(That's Andy on the right, and his real-life inspiration on the left)

In 1997, Gangtang’s two-year-old son, Guo Zhen, was abducted by human traffickers. Gangtang, who was only 27 at that time, then embarked on a journey to find his son, riding a motorcycle all over China.

However, although Gangtang journeyed for over 15 years, covering 500,000 kilometres, damaging and scrapping 10 motorcycles in the process, his search turned out to be a futile effort.

When Lost And Love was released in 2015, it brought on a new wave of interest in Gangtang’s case, as well as countless other child abduction cases all over China.

Unfortunately, while Gangtang’s effort did help seven other families to reunite with their abducted children, there was no closure for Gangtang, whose son remained missing.

The big reunion

However, earlier this month, Chinese authorities revealed that they’d managed to locate Gangtang’s son. A DNA test was done and it was confirmed that they are really father and son, and their big reunion finally took place last Sunday (July 11).

The piece of good news was very well received by netizens, many of whom celebrated the fact that Gangtang was finally able to reunite with his son after 24 years.

According to reports, Guo Zhen currently resides in Henan, not far from Gangtang.

Two suspects, a man surnamed Hu and a woman surnamed Tang, have also been apprehended by the authorities for their involvement in the abduction.

And a nice message from Andy to end things off

And it seems like the good news has also reached Andy, who released a special video message congratulating the family on their reunion.

“Hello everyone! I’m Andy Lau. Through a movie, Lost And Love, I was able to know Big Brother Guo. Today, I feel very happy ‘cos Big Brother Guo’s son, who’d been abducted for 24 years, was finally able to reunite with his parents thanks to the hard work of the Public Security Bureau. First off, through this video, I wish to tell Big Brother Guo that I admire your perseverance. I also wish to salute the Public Security Bureau for their years of hard work. And I’d like to urge all my friends to join me in supporting anti-human trafficking efforts in hope that more families who’ve been separated can reunite soon,” said Andy.

Photos: 天涯寻亲郭刚堂/Weibo, 齐鲁晚报/Weibo

Ref: Guo Gangtang spent 15 years travelling around China on a motorbike looking for his son, who was abducted when he was just two (8days)