On October 25, a high-profile case in China came to a close as 61-year-old Yu Huaying was sentenced to death for abducting and trafficking 17 children from 12 families between 1993 and 2003. Five of the families had two children taken.
The breakthrough came thanks to 34-year-old Yang Niuhua, one of Yu’s victims.
In 1995, Yu abducted 5-year-old Yang from their village in Guizhou Province, where she lived next door to Yang’s family.
She sold Yang to a family for 2,500 yuan (US$350) across the country in Handan, Hebei Province. There she lived with a man surnamed Li, who is deaf and non-verbal, and a woman surnamed Wang, who she called “grandmother.” Yang dropped out of school at 13 to work in a factory.
Yang married in 2009 and gave birth to her second child in 2012. Ever since, she struggled to find her biological parents. In April 2021, Yang began posting videos on Douyin, eventually connecting with her biological sister.
Heartbreakingly, she learned her parents had died in their 30s, years after her abduction, due to health complications brought on by depression.
In June 2022, Yang reported her case to local police in Guizhou Province, leading to Yu’s arrest. Yang has since joined a volunteer group helping abducted victims reunite with their families. In July, she published her book, Blossoms on the Road, detailing her journey and how she brought her abductor to justice.
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