A Chinese man named Yu Baobao abducted as a toddler 34 years ago experienced a brief reunion with his birth family, which ended within a year due to disagreements over money. Baobao who was taken from his grandparents’ home in Sichuan province at the age of two was sold to a wealthy family in Henan province by human traffickers.
Renamed Li Qiang, he lived under this identity for more than three decades before finally reconnecting with his biological mother last September.
Initially, Baobao’s reunion was a heartwarming tale that captivated many online. His followers encouraged him to start e-commerce live streaming to generate income to support his newly rediscovered family. This venture proved financially successful but tensions quickly emerged when his biological family demanded a significant portion, which was 60 percent of his earnings.
Although Baobao agreed to share the money, his siblings refused to reciprocate fairly, claiming they were doing him a “favor” by accepting him back into the family. The situation escalated when one of his younger brothers reportedly threatened him over the financial dispute.
Baobao soon realised that his biological mother showed clear favoritism toward her other two sons and viewed him primarily as a source of financial gain. Disillusioned, he removed all content related to his family from his social media profiles and chose to distance himself from them.
Baobao’s upbringing with the family that bought him was also troubled. They mistreated him, revealing at age five that he was adopted and later sent him to another household when he was 11. He eventually left home at 19 and moved to Shanghai and Beijing, where he found work and became a delivery agent in the Chinese capital.
Currently, Baobao is focused on saving money to track down the human traffickers responsible for his ordeal.
