He Spent 23 Years Searching for His Daughter. Last Month, He Found Her.

Over the past 23 years, Shi Chunxin has helped families across China track down their missing children. Last month, he made his most important find of all — his own daughter. On June 5, the 48-year-old beamed from ear to ear as he stood next to his daughter, Shi Ke, who was abducted over 20 years ago as a toddler. “Hello everyone, I am Shi Ke’s dad. Shi Ke has been found,” he said in a video posted by Shanghai-based news outlet The Paper.

For the Shi family, life changed forever on April 15, 2001 — the day they became one of thousands of families to fall victim to the human trafficking trade. At the time, Shi Chunxin’s wife was riding a tricycle through their hometown in central China’s Henan province. A neighbor’s daughter was sitting behind her in the trailer, holding Shi Ke, then just a toddler.

Then, a motorized tricycle suddenly pulled alongside them, and two people reached out and snatched Shi Ke. Before her mother could react, they had gone.

During that period, the chances of finding an abducted child were slim. But Shi Chunxin refused to give up hope, beginning a relentless search that would see him become a high-profile advocate for China’s parents of missing children.

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