Abducted At Four, Chinese Man Reunites With Family After 21 Years, Cuts Ties With Adoptive Home

A man in China who was abducted at the age of four has reunited with his birth parents after more than two decades and has chosen to sever ties with the family that raised him, according to a report by The South China Morning Post.

Peng Congcong, now 26, originally from Jiangxi province in southeastern China, shared an online post on December 12 reflecting on his first year after reuniting with his biological family. Peng said his family had moved to Beijing when he was a child and that he was abducted after being lured away while playing alone near a local market, as per the news report.

His parents reported him missing immediately and spent 21 years searching for him, putting up posters and following leads across the country. During that time, Peng was raised by a family in Jiangsu province in eastern China and given a new name, Zhang Kun. Some mainland media reports have described the Jiangsu family as buyers in a child trafficking case, though Peng has not publicly commented on those claims.

In December last year, police informed Peng that he was not from Jiangsu and that his birth family had located him through DNA testing. He travelled to Beijing to reunite with his parents and two older sisters before returning with them to Jiangxi, where villagers welcomed him with fireworks, a banquet and celebrations, according to SCMP.

Peng later quit his job in Jiangsu, changed his household registration, and sold his home and car, saying these belongings did not truly belong to him. He cut off ties in Jiangsu and moved back to Jiangxi to rebuild his life.

Calling 2025 his "rebirth year", Peng said he hopes to make up for the lost time with his parents. He has since become a volunteer helping families search for missing children and donated proceeds from his first livestream to the charity Baby Come Home.

China continues to face challenges related to human trafficking, though official data shows a sharp decline in such cases in recent years. Peng's story has resonated widely on Chinese social media, drawing praise for his courage and calls for stricter punishment for traffickers.