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Girl reunited with father after 16 years

By Guo Rui and Zhou Lihua (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-12 07:55

WUHAN: A 21-year-old Swiss-Chinese girl was reunited with her birth father yesterday after 16 years in Central China's Hubei province.

"My house is like that, my door is like that, my kitchen is like that," said Wang Gaoqin, who burst into tears upon seeing her old home in Tianmen, Hubei province.

Sixteen years ago, the 5-year-old girl, whose nickname was Qinya at that time, lost her family in the streets of Wuhan.

She was then sent to Wuhan City Children Welfare Center. The next year, she was adopted by a foreign couple. Her foster mother is from Singapore and foster father from Italy. The couple then immigrated to Switzerland.

During the 15 years, Wang received a good education.

Wang now speaks fluent English, French and Italian, but is not well-versed in Chinese.

Though her life in Switzerland was colorful, she missed her hometown all the time, and she became more and more rebellious. In September, her foster parents sent a letter to Zhang Zhiwei, counsel for "Baby, Come Home", a volunteer organization dedicated to seeking homes for lost children, expressing the wish for their adopted daughter to reunite with her lost family in Hubei.

Some Wuhan media in September and October released a series of reports about the couple trying to track the relatives of their adopted daughter. The reports gave Wang faint memories about her hometown.

In mid-October, a man named Wang Yong came forward to say that his hometown completely met the description in the report, and he even thought the girl could be his cousin if there is a scar on her chest.

The information was passed to the foster parents. This time, Wang was not disappointed, for the information was strikingly similar with the fragments of her memories. She realized that she would see her relatives soon.

Wang arrived in Wuhan on Tuesday and left for the hometown, Wangjiatai, Tianmen city yesterday where she met her father Wang Yong'an.

Though the environment is more or less the same as it was 16 years ago, there are major differences: her mother has passed away and her father now lacks stable work.

But yesterday, Wang was brimming with mixed feelings, and said she does not know yet what will happen in the future.