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GUANGAN CITY, China — More than two decades after being abducted, China native Luo Gang found his home with the help of Google Maps.
Luo was born in a small town near Guangan City in Sichuan Province. When he was 5 years old, he was abducted while he was on his way to kindergarten and then taken more 900 miles away to a city in the Fujian province.
His parents searched for him but to no avail. Meanwhile, Luo was given a new name and raised by his adoptive parents; he lived a relatively normal life with parents who loved him like he was their own son.
For the next two decades, Luo was a normal boy and attended school, went on to graduate school and finished his military service, according to The Next Web.
However, his new home and life haunted him. Luo would remind himself of where he came from and what his hometown looked like. As time went by, he could remember one thing clearly: two bridges.
"Every day before I went to bed, I forced myself to re-live the life spent in my old home," Luo said in an interview with South China Morning Post (SCMP). "So I wouldn't forget."
He drew a map of his hometown and posted it to Bring Lost Babies Home, a Chinese site that helps locate missing children. A volunteer contacted Luo and told him about a couple in Guangan City that lost their son around the time he disappeared.
Every day before I went to bed, I forced myself to re-live the life spent in my old home. So I wouldn't forget.
–Luo Gang
The similar timeline gave Luo hope that he was on the right track, and after looking at pictures of the small town he was convinced he was close to finding his birth parents.
That's when Luo turned to Google Maps. He searched for satellite images of an area called "Yaojiaba" near Guangan and recognized the two bridges.
"That's it! That's my home!" he told SCMP.
Soon after, Luo was reunited with his birth parents and grandparents and learned his birth name was Huang Yun. He's the firstborn son and has three younger sisters, The Next Web reports.
"In the past years, I couldn't help crying each time I thought about my son, who could be starving without enough clothes on him," his mother said.
Photo credit: Nhaidu.com
