Unbreakable bond

Li Yuankang finds his Kazakh mother after a 55-year separation, Li Yang reports in Hepu, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

Li Yuankang, a 65-year-old retired mechanical engineer was awoken by a call from his former boss at midnight on Sept 5. "A very important personage will mention you, buddy," said the voice on the other side. That person was none other than President Xi Jinping. In a speech at Nazarbayev University in Astana, Kazakhstan, on Sept 7, he told the moving story of a Chinese son reunited with his Kazakh mother and elder sister after 55 years of separation.

Li is that Chinese son. He was reunited with his mother and sister in Moscow on Dec 27, 2009 during a live program by a television station in Russia that helps people look for lost families.