Hoping kidnappings come to an end soon

The family of Sun Haiyang, who had been looking for his son for 14 years, was finally reunited with him on Monday.

Sun's son Sun Zhuo was 4 years old in October 2007 when he was abducted in Shenzhen. This October, the police in Shenzhen swooped down on a couple, a man surnamed Wu and his wife, suspecting they had bought a child from an abductor about 14 years ago. DNA tests confirmed that their "son" was Sun Zhuo. Wu and his wife are now under arrest.

This brings to an end Sun Haiyang's 14-year-long search for his son. Sun even shut down his eatery to focus on the search, and promised to pay 200,000 yuan ($31,392) to anyone who gave clues on his son's whereabouts. His ordeal became the subject of a movie, Dearest, in 2014.

The police have taken stricter measures to prevent human trafficking after online appeals.

According to the Ministry of Public Security, the number of kidnappings has dropped to about 20 a year nationwide and many cases have been cracked.
In July, Guo Gangtang found his son after a 24-year-long search. Guo's ordeal, too, was made into a movie, Lost and Love, which released in 2015.

It is the unending efforts of parents, along with the police which can use advanced technologies to trace kidnapped children, that have made such family reunions possible.

However, many cases remain unsolved even after decades. About 130,000 missing cases are listed on baobeihuijia.com, a website for parents and lost children to register on, and only 6,000 of them have been solved.

Wu and his wife bought Sun Zhuo from an abductor and raised him as their own son, but in keeping with the amendments to the Criminal Law in 2015, they might face criminal charges.

Hopefully, this will lead to the reunion of more families and the end of kidnappings.