Mother finds son trafficked to China after 3 decades of waiting

One morning in late November 2025 Au Thi Minh’s phone rang incessantly. It was her second son, Chu Duc Hung, with the news: "There is a man in China looking for his family. The information he provided, like his own name, his father’s name and the time he went missing, matches that of older brother."

The family wasted no time in setting up a video call with the man. Once the call was connected, 64-year-old Minh could not hold back her tears. "Just by looking at his face, I knew he was my own flesh and blood", she says.

The only photo that Hoang (1st left) took with his family before he went missing. Photo courtesy of Hoang’s family

The saga began on September 2, 1994, at Dong Kinh Stadium in erstwhile Lang Son town.

Minh had taken her seven-year-old firstborn, Hoang, with her to sell che (sweet soup) at the stadium gate during a Vietnam-China women's football match. To keep him out of the midday heat, she told her son to wait in the shade until she returned.

But when she came back, her son was nowhere to be found. Thinking he had gone to his grandparents' house nearby as he usually did, she was not concerned.

But by evening there was still no sign of Hoang. The whole family fanned out to search the entire town and neighboring areas, but could not find him anywhere.

Minh and her husband printed photos of their son and took them to every border gate in Lang Son, seeking help from the border guards.

Months passed, however, without a single lead. Every night she wept for her child. In moments of desperation she even considered leaving her two-year-old son with her husband and pretending to be a madwoman so she could cross into China to search for Hoang.

Her relatives stopped her, warning her that China was simply too vast and that she might lose her life before ever finding him. On National Day every year, for 31 years, the pain of losing her son would resurface, gnawing at her. "It felt like a heavy rock was constantly pressing down on my heart", she says.

In 2012 she sent an application to a missing persons program for help but received no response. But she and her husband never gave up hope that their son would remember his roots and his parents, and would one day find his way home.

In October 2025, after three decades of what seemed to be false hope, Minh told her second son: "We should make an altar for your older brother this coming Lunar New Year".

Hoang bursts into tears at reuniting with his family in late November 2025. Photo courtesy of Hoang’s family

A week later a miracle happened. Across the border Minh’s son had also spent nearly 20 years searching for his biological parents. Hoang remembers that while he was sitting alone in the shade that fateful day two strangers approached him and promised to take him to his mother.

"They led me on foot across countless hills and mountains. After one night I found myself in a completely foreign place".

The boy was taken to a family in Guangdong, China, and given a new name - Tran Phuc Hung. Hoang says his adoptive father loved him dearly, supporting him all the way through high school before he began working in a factory.

Now 38 years old he has never married. "I always remembered that I am Vietnamese and that my name is Hoang and my father’s name is Khanh, but I didn’t know which province I was from," he says.

Since the age of 21 he has been on a quest to find his way back home. He crossed the border many times and even traveled down to Hanoi, only to return in despair because he didn't know who to look for or where to start.

During his previous attempt he had to sell all the gold in his savings to pay for his travel, but luck still eluded him.

He lived in constant fear that the chance to see his mother was slipping away with every passing year. In November 2025, after discovering a missing persons channel on social media, Hoang posted his information and asked for help.

By chance his younger brother saw the video and realized this could be his missing brother. During the first video call with Hoang, with the facial resemblance and the details provided, Minh was certain this was her son.

It was an equally heart-thumping moment for her 63-year-old husband, Chu Duc Khanh, as he asked Hoang in a trembling voice: "When you left, was your right pinky nail healthy?" On the other side of the screen, Hoang held up a finger that still bore a scar: "Back then, my nail had been torn off."

His father nearly shouted with joy: "It really is you! Two days before you went missing, you were playing with your cousin and your finger got caught in a car door."

For six straight nights after receiving the news, the couple could not sleep, weeping with joy for having found their son. In the days leading up to the reunion, Hoang and his family called each other every day.

Many conversations had to be cut short because the emotions were too overwhelming, and his Vietnamese - after 31 years of disuse - was no longer enough to express everything in his heart.

Though he had originally planned to return to Vietnam after two months, Hoang could not wait any longer. He applied for a Vietnamese visa just one week after the call. He told his mother: "I miss you so much, Mom; I just want to hug you!"

Hoang (second from left) with his mother (in red) and other family members in November 2025. Photo courtesy of Hoang’s family

In late November a car drove straight from Na Sam Commune to the Huu Nghi Border Gate to welcome the long-lost son home. Returning to the house of his childhood, Hoang collapsed into his mother's arms. "Mom, your flesh is my flesh. You are my home," he said in broken Vietnamese.

During his one month in Vietnam, Hoang visited relatives from both sides of the family, practiced his Vietnamese, and was taken by his parents to visit the grave of his maternal grandmother, who had passed away with the lingering heartache of never finding her grandson.

He gradually began eating Vietnamese foods again, going to the market with his younger brother and joining him in the kitchen to cook for the family. Everywhere they went, Hoang held his mother’s hand tightly.

Minh says: "He asks to sleep next to me every night, saying he’s afraid that I won't be there when he wakes up."

While his mother wants him to complete the paperwork to move back to Vietnam permanently, Hoang hopes to be able to travel between both countries. "My adoptive father in China loves me very much, I cannot abandon him in his old age," he explains.

He plans to return to Vietnam for Lunar New Year next month to be with his parents and brother, making up for the decades spent without the warmth of his birth family.

After 31 years of waiting, Minh and her husband say, the greatest pain of their lives has finally ended. "Our lives are complete from now on," she says, pulling both of her sons into a hug.

 

 

Mother finds son trafficked to China after 3 decades of waiting

Tìm thấy con trai sau 31 năm lạc mất