Eagle-eyed deliveryman helps families reunite with missing people

Over the years, a take-away deliveryman in Quanzhou, Fujian province, has helped 36 lost people return home.

Whatever the weather, Hong Chengmu can be found delivering food by an electric bike, while keeping an eye out for those who may need help.

In a crumpled white notebook he carries with him every day, he records lost people's names and characteristics and locations, dates and times related to their missing.

"These are people who need the most help. It requires minimal effort to help them return home on my way to deliver food," the 34-year-old said. "I used to think that the best thing in life was to meet people. Now, I know it is more precious for people to meet again.

"Behind every missing person are the pain of a family and hearts eager to reunite. It's a great joy to see families reunited."

Hong has been a deliveryman in Nan'an, a city in Quanzhou, since 2018 and was included in Fujian's first group of "most beautiful takeaway deliverymen" in March this year.

Hong's special services began by chance in 2019, when he first came across people he'd seen listed as missing or lost in the news or in posts on WeChat Moments as he was out delivering food.

One day, he learned that a 32-year-old mentally-disturbed man in Quanzhou had lost contact with his family.

That night, he happened to see the man. Hong spoke to him and confirmed that he was the person in question, and with the help of the police, he was able to send the man home immediately.

Moved by the joy and gratitude of the family, he decided to do more.

He joined a program started by the ByteDance news app, Toutiao, and began to volunteer to search for lost people.

Of the 36 people Hong has found to date, 29 were through random encounters on the way to deliver food, and seven were from notices he saw posted on Toutiao.

"Some of my friends wondered why in my WeChat Moments, I kept reposting the notices of the missing, but I think it's a way of helping more people," he said.

Some of them also wondered if Hong's volunteer work might delay his deliveries.

"It often happens, but generally the customers understand when they know the reason," he said.

With his encouragement, some of his colleagues have also started to repost notices of missing people on their WeChat Moments and have begun to help search for them.

It was an episode in November 2019 that was the turning point for Hong becoming more actively involved.

At around 1 pm one day, he saw a woman standing on the street, looking in every direction. He worried that she might be lost but did not speak to her, as he was also afraid that she might misunderstand his concern.

He quickly checked phone notices to see if she was listed as missing, but when he found nothing relevant, he carried on with his deliveries. At about 7:30 pm, he received a notice about a missing woman. Her description matched the person he'd seen earlier that day.

He instantly regretted that he had not spoken to her. He called her family and went to the police station to check surveillance camera recordings and he also reposted the notice on his WeChat Moments.

Fortunately, one of his friends spotted the woman at a traffic light. Hong and her family members rushed over.

Upon seeing them, the woman, who had been wandering the streets for two days, began to cry, saying that she hadn't been able to find her way home.

"After that, I came up with three steps to help the missing: observe, communicate and contact. Stepping forward to communicate is key to not overlooking those in need," he said.

According to statistics jointly released in February by the Zhongmin Social Assistance Institute and Toutiao's volunteer project, the number of people who went missing in China last year reached 1 million. "Most of them are disadvantaged and suffer from mental disorders, cognitive difficulties or Alzheimer's," Hong said. "I hope more people will help them."

Among those he has helped, he is most concerned about a 13-year-old boy with special education needs. He said he is willing to donate the reward he received as "most beautiful take-away deliverymen" to help the boy go to a special education school. "I know how important family is. If we all keep an eye open for the missing, there will be fewer wanderers and broken families," he said. "I hope that more people will help and allow more families to know the happiness of reunion."

Huang Mengqin contributed to this story.