Man finds parents 23 yrs after being abducted

A 28-year-old man found his native home 23 years after he was abducted thanks to his strong memory, Google maps and warm-hearted volunteers, Urban Express reported.

When Luo Gang was on his way to a kindergarten one day in 1990, he met a couple who said they were looking for his father. They took him from his home village in Chongqing, which was part of Sichuan province at the time.

He was sold to a village in Fujian province 1,500 km away, where his adopted parents passed away two years later and his adopted grandparents raised him.

Luo was often laughed at and bullied at school, and he had no interest in looking for his biological parents.

What he could remember was that his home village had mountains, rivers and a main road near where his biological parents lived. He tried to memorize everything about his native home - the appearance of his biological parents, the food he ate at home, the main road and shapes of two bridges in the village as well the red sweater with the pattern of a swan he wore when he was abducted.

Luo guessed that he was from Chongqing because he overhead a woman speaking a local dialect and realized he could understand her.

When he attended his junior high school, his geography teacher would talk about the location of different provinces and cities in China. Luo would look at the map of Sichuan and learn everything about it.

After graduating from high school, Luo studied mechanical design at a secondary technical school and began started drawing a map of his home village.

When he graduated from the secondary technical school, Luo joined the army and later worked in a fire brigade.

In October 2012, Luo found a website that helps brings together parents and their missing children.

Lan Xue, a volunteer with the website, helped Luo recall details about his village while another volunteer found a road map of Chongqing in 1990.

At that time, only two national roads were covered with asphalt in Chongqing. Luo narrowed his scope of search to Linshui county in Chongqing.

In April, Luo, using Google maps, found two bridges in a village called Yaojia that looked familiar. Local volunteers in Linshui confirmed that his biological parents' home was there.

After a DNA test, Luo met his biological parents. His adopted grandparents feared he would never return to Fujian.

But 11 days later, Luo returned and told them he would never part with them, for they had raised him.

One month later, Luo's biological mother found a woman from Chongqing for him, and they later got engaged. They will be married in Fujian on Christmas Eve.

Luo said he invited his biological parents and younger brother to the wedding.