In recent years, with the efforts of family search volunteers, public welfare reports in the media and the popularity of DNA technology, more and more parents and children have come forward to look for relatives. They have put aside their prejudices and are eager to renew their kinship and reconcile with their regrettable lives.
Chen Ruicun looks at the remains of his parents.
According to public data, in the 1950s and 1960s, during the "three-year difficult period", due to food shortage, some children in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai were sent away by their parents, adopted by welfare homes, and introduced to relatively prosperous families in the north - this group, later known as "abandoned children in the south of the Yangtze River".
This situation didn't disappear until the late 1970s. According to incomplete statistics of private volunteers and cross verification of public reports, the number of "abandoned children in Jiangnan" exceeded 100000.
It is Chen Ruicun's dream for many years to celebrate the Double Ninth Festival for his parents.
After years of hard searching from Shandong to Zhejiang, the 52 year old finally found his own biological parents, but they have become two portraits and hung on the wall.
Zhu Ahua, 88, also has no holiday thoughts.
In her opinion, this is a festival of family reunion, but her daughter is still living outside. "Every day, I am worried about her, and I don't know whether she is living well outside.". Zhu Ahua's helpless action due to life difficulties in those years has become an unforgettable pain in the latter half of his life.
In this Double Ninth Festival, many "abandoned children in the south of the Yangtze River" and their parents are still looking for each other. They turn to the search organizations and media to leave DNA information and look forward to the day of meeting.
Caller: Zhu Ahua Residence: Jiashan, Zhejiang
Key information: girl, born on March 20, 1959, has a "rotation" on her forehead.
Zhu Ahua left nothing about his daughter at home.
Zhu Ahua, 88, remembers that his daughter Shan Caiting was born on March 20, 1959.
For 60 years, when it comes to his daughter's birthday, Zhu Ahua will wash his face with tears.
"In 1960, my family had no rice for more than 20 days, and I had no milk, so I could only eat wild vegetables, but my 1-year-old daughter did not eat wild vegetables, nor could she eat any coarse grains", Zhu Ahua recalled, "I took my sweater when I got married and exchanged it for 10 kilograms of sweet potatoes, and when I returned home, I knew it was a bad fruit, and I could not eat..."
Zhu Ahua seldom goes out. She hopes to see her daughter once, fulfilling her lifelong wish.
In order to prevent her daughter from dying of hunger, Zhu Ahua and her husband decided to send her away to find a good home for her. In the rural areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang in that era, many parents made the same decision as them.
The couple took a boat to the ferry in Jiashan County, Zhejiang Province, put their daughter on a bench by the river, hid in the distance and watched secretly. After waiting for a day, no one paid any attention to her, so they had to take her home.
A few days later, they went to the ferry in Jiashan County again. At about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, a middle-aged man with glasses picked her up and boarded the boat to Jiaxing.
Zhu Ahua said that after seeing her off, her husband cried all the way home.
But except for the name of the ferry in Jiashan County and the blurred image of "middle-aged man" in his memory, Zhu Ahua has no clue about this past event.
"I want to see her before I leave to see how she is doing and say sorry to her.".
Caller: Wei Xiaobao Residence: Jiaxing, Zhejiang
Key information: The girl, born in 1959, was sent out in 1960 wearing a cotton padded jacket with red dots.
Wei Xiaobao took a picture at the ferry.
Wei Xiaobao, 83, from Daqiao Town, Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province, was also born in 1959.
She could not remember the exact date when she sent her daughter away, probably in March or April 1960. At that time, she suffered from severe appendicitis and was hospitalized in Jiaxing City. Her wound festered and she was dying.
When the starving daughter could not be cared for, the husband decided on his own. First, he gave her to the barren neighbor, but the neighbor was unable to support her. The next day, he returned her.
In desperation, the husband put his daughter on the flatbed beside the toilet at the gate of the hospital and was carried away by a woman.
Wei Xiaobao's home is densely covered with water. In the 1960s, villagers often went to the city by boat.
After recovering from his illness, Wei Xiaobao began to visit Jiaxing urban area to look for women, which lasted for 50 years.
Over the years, Wei Xiaobao has met several children who have similar experiences with his daughter. "At first, everyone was very happy, but after checking the information, they found that none of them were".
Time after time of expectation brings about time after time of disappointment. In the process of searching for his son, his husband also died in guilt, which made Wei Xiaobao's hope of finding his daughter more and more remote.
Caller: Zhu Xiangmei Residence: Jiaxing, Zhejiang
Key information: The boy, born in 1967, has an English name for the hostess of the adoptive family.
Zhu Xiangmei is an old woman.
Zhu Xiangmei, 92, from Jiabei Street, Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province, has had 7 children in her life.
She sent away the sixth child, the boy.
On May 25, 1967 (the error was within half a month), Zhu Xiangmei gave birth to her sixth child in Jiaxing Women's Insurance Hospital. At that time, there were nine old and young people living in three straw sheds, and it was hard to sustain life.
Zhu Xiangmei remembered that on the day of her birth, a family from Pinghu County, Zhejiang Province gave birth to a "monster". After being introduced, the family took Zhu Xiangmei's son away before she could name him.
Zhu Xiangmei took a group photo with her two sons. She hoped that the son who sent her away would see the appearance of the two brothers and be able to contact her.
Zhao Fuliang, Zhu Xiangmei's son, said that over the past 50 years, his parents had repeatedly nagged, and one of their brothers was taken away by "Pinghu people". The days of family reunion on New Year's Day and Holidays are the most difficult times for mothers.
Zhu Xiangmei has left DNA information in relevant institutions, which is her only hope.
Caller: Yao Yuzhong Residence: Jiaxing, Zhejiang
Key information: girl, with a note "born on May 28, 1969, south of the Long Wooden Bridge" on her body.
Mr. and Mrs. Yao Yuzhong.
Yao Yuzhong and Yao Wubao, both 75 years old, live in Wangdian Town, Xiuzhou District, Jiaxing City.
On July 12, 1969 (May 28 in the lunar calendar), Yao Wubao gave birth to his third daughter.
"It's not that we prefer boys to girls," Yao Yuzhong said.
On the day of delivery, the couple decided to send their daughter away. Her husband, Yao Yuzhong, walked for nearly two hours and sent the infant girl to the gate of the former Xiashi Dongshan Nurturing Hall in Haining County.
Back at home, Yao Yuzhong could hardly sleep after tossing and turning, and he regretted it.
At daybreak, he went to the Nurturing Hall to look for women. The staff told him that the child had been adopted by people in Quzhou, Zhejiang, and Yao Yuzhong had to go home.
Yao Yuzhong and his wife have been thinking about this daughter for 50 years.
"Xieqiao Bridge" was an important wharf leading to Haining Xiashi Welfare Institute (Dongshan Nurturing Hall) by waterway in those days, and also a transit place for many "abandoned children in the south of the Yangtze River".
Caller: Gu Mei'e Residence: Haining, Zhejiang
Key information: boy, there is a note "born on the evening of April 4, 1972" in his swaddling clothes.
Gu Mei'e, an old man.
Gu Mei'e, 74, lives in Xieqiao Town, Haining City, Zhejiang Province.
At 10 p.m. on April 4, 1972, her third son was born.
"At that time, life was not good. Five husbands and five brothers and two brother-in-law were sons in law, and when they saw the birth of their third son, they were worried." Gu Mei'e said that she was worried that her son would not survive and hoped to find a good home for him.
Two days after the birth of the child, Gu Mei'e's husband came to Xieqiao Town, put the child down and left quietly in the busy street.
The next day, he went to the street again to inquire about the whereabouts of the baby. Someone told him that a ship from Shanghai to Jiaxing stopped at the dock, and someone came down to take the baby away.
He began to regret, but it was too late.
Gu Mei'e's husband has a habit of keeping a diary. He wrote his son's birth date in the calendar in 1972 and has kept it up to now.
Caller: Xia Jianqing Residence: Haining, Zhejiang
Key information: The girl, born in 1983, has two bags of milk powder and a red note with her birthday in the basket.
Xia Jianqing, the old man.
Xia Jianqing, 64, lives in Yanguan Town, Haining City, Zhejiang Province.
On July 11, 1983, the wife secretly gave birth to her second daughter at a relative's home.
Xia Jianqing said, "At that time, my annual income in the countryside was less than 1000 yuan. According to the family planning policy, I would be fined 10000 yuan for having an extra child. I had no money, no education, and was timid.". Six days after the birth of the child, he asked a friend to put her in a dollar basket on the old street of Xiashi in Haining, and was carried away by a middle-aged woman.
In the middle and late 1980s, with the deepening of reform and opening up and the development of private economy, Xia Jianqing began to set up factories to make money, and his family gradually became rich. He also began to look for a second daughter.
By doing business, he has traveled to many provinces and cities in the mainland, including Henan and Gansu, and has made various information comparisons with more than 100 suspected objects, none of which matches.
Yuanbao basket is a common household item in the rural areas of Jiangnan in the last century. It is just the size of a baby and has become the choice of many families who abandoned their children.
In 1993, he went to Luoyang, Henan Province to compare with a family who adopted their daughter. Although the information was not correct, he still gave the family 3000 yuan.
"Now I'm brave enough to stand up and look for my daughter. I'm not afraid of gossip. I want to find my daughter and say sorry to her personally. If she doesn't have a house to live in, she lives in my home. If she wants to buy a house, I can help her as much as I can and just want to compensate her.". Xia Jianqing said.
Caller: Qian Sanbao Residence: Jiashan, Zhejiang
Key information: Dragon and Phoenix foetus, the girl was sent out on the seventh day of the first month of 1960, wrapped with checkered mattress; The boy was sent out on the eighth day of the first lunar month, with the birthday note of "born on November 26, 1959".
Qian Sanbao has been in bed for a long time.
Qian Sanbao, 94, from Taozhuang Town, Jiashan County, Zhejiang Province, is looking for a pair of twins.
On December 26 of the lunar calendar in 1959, Qian Sanbao gave birth for the sixth time to a pair of twins. But she was not happy because the family was short of rice and grain at that time, and it was difficult to eat a meal.
"When the child stayed up for two months, he really ran out of milk, and the child was so hungry that he was persuaded to send the child to the city, hoping that the rich people would take him in.".
On the seventh day of the first month of 1960, the neighbor rowed to Jiaxing City Second Hospital to see a doctor. Qian Sanbao took the two children on board.
"Because people were powerless at that time, I ate half a bowl of vegetables before getting on the boat and rowed half a boat for my family. At three o'clock that afternoon, I put the girl on the side of Beili Bridge at the gate of the hospital, on the chicken shed of a chicken family, and was carried away by an old man.".
Qian Sanbao, 94, lying on his sickbed, told the story with a clear mind. "The next morning, I put the boy in front of a wonton shop on the vegetable market and was carried away by a man on a bicycle.".
It was 1960, and the cyclists should be rich people.
Because the mother Qian Sanbao is 94 years old and has difficulty moving, the 73 year old daughter Chen Meiling is responsible for communicating with the family seeker to find her own brother and sister.
Caller: Lin Yuying Residence: Jiashan, Zhejiang
Key information: The girl, born in 1965, was placed at the gate of a toilet on Zhongshan Road, Jiashan County, and was carried away by a woman who emptied the toilet.
Old Lin Yuying.
Lin Yuying, 64 years old, is from Huimin Street, Jiashan County, Zhejiang Province. Both her parents have passed away. In order to fulfill her father's last wishes, she has been looking for her sister.
In August or September 1965, Lin Yuying's mother gave birth to a pair of twins, the boy died prematurely and the girl was intact. Lin's mother was dying after giving birth to a child, and Lin's father and neighbors rowed to the county hospital.
Lin Yuying said, "I was 11 years old that year. About evening, I saw the boat coming back. I was very happy to say that my mother came back. I ran to her, but she was covered with a white cloth. I uncovered the white cloth and found her dead.".
At night, her newborn sister kept crying. Lin Yuying fed her with sugared water, but the neighbors said that she could not feed her with sugared water. If the baby wanted milk, it was better to give it to others as early as possible.
The next morning, Cousin Lin Yuying went to the city to send her sister away.
Lin's father never married later. He often mentioned his sister to Lin Yuying. This regret has always accompanied his death.
Blood DNA collection.
In recent years, with the efforts of family search volunteers, public welfare reports in the media and the popularity of DNA technology, more and more parents and children have come forward to look for relatives. They have put aside their prejudices and are eager to renew their kinship and reconcile with their regrettable lives.
Family search volunteers revealed that they could not find their relatives accurately based on their appearance and information comparison, and blood sampling to verify DNA was the scientific basis to confirm whether the two parties had blood relationship.
Chen Ruicun looks at the remains of his parents.
Chen Ruicun, from Juxian County, Shandong Province, found his home in Tongxiang, Zhejiang Province, but his biological parents who cared about him for most of his life had passed away.
In July of the lunar calendar 1968, the poor Xu family couple gave birth to twins in Zhejiang. At that time, the Xu family had raised two children and a daughter. Ms. Wang, who works in the hospital, is a cadre who went to the south of Shandong Province. As a folk introducer, she introduced and adopted boys for many families who lack children in Juxian County, Shandong Province, so that these families can "continue to burn incense".
The Xu family and his wife discussed, and the boy was sent to the Chen family in Ju County, Shandong Province for adoption, named Chen Chen Ruicun.
When Chen Ruicun grew up, after his adoptive parents passed away, he began to search for relatives in the south. After the visit of relatives seeking volunteers and DNA matching, Chen Ruicun found the Xu family, but his biological parents had passed away.
Compared with most "abandoned children in Jiangnan", Chen Ruicun is lucky. At least he has found his own roots. (End)
One Day of the Chinese, Issue 3838
Photography&Writing | Tian Jianming
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Produced | Tencent News