After 32 years of searching for her kidnapped son, Li Jingzhi almost gave up hope but finally in May she got the call she had been waiting for.

In the 1980s, Li Jingzhi, of Xi'an, Shaanxi worked for a grain export company and when the harvest came, she had to travel a few days on a business trip to see suppliers in the countryside.

During a business trip in October 1988, she received a message from her supervisor asking to go home urgently.

Li's only son, Mao Dan, at home was Gia Gia, who was only two years old and eight months old.

"At that time I thought maybe you got lost, good people would find me and bring me back," she said.

But when a week passed and no one was taking the boy to the police station, she knew the situation was serious.

Whenever he saw his child's clothes, small shoes and toys, Ly cried.

Li never stopped searching.

Once, she took a long-distance bus to the countryside in another district in Shaanxi to find a couple adopting a boy that looked like Gia Gia.

She spent hours looking for the apartment the couple rented.

Even so, Li did not give up.

After resting, she set out again and finally found the woman and the child.

Son is the first thing she thinks of when she wakes up in the morning.

Around this time, Li realized there were a lot of mothers and fathers with missing children, not only in Xi'an but also in more distant places and she connected with them.

Thanks to this network, Li gathered more clues, but no information brought her closer to Gia Gia.

When her son had been missing for 19 years, Li started volunteering with the Baby Come Home website, helping to reunite families with missing children.

In 2009, the Chinese government set up a DNA database, where couples who lost their children and those who thought they had been kidnapped could submit DNA samples.

Most of the missing children that Li heard of were men.

In collaboration with Baby Come Home and other organizations over the past two decades, Ms. Li has helped reunite 29 families.

But there were times when Ms. Li almost lost all hope.

On May 10 this year, Ms. Li received a call from the Xi'an police with great news: "Mao Tiger was found".

In April, Ms. Li received a clue about a boy kidnapped from Xi'an many years ago.

The police convinced him to have a DNA test.

May 18 was chosen as the reunion day.

"Before the meeting, I worried a lot. Perhaps the boy will not recognize me or accept me and perhaps inwardly he forgot me. I was so scared when I came to hug him, he will

Since Ly Tinh Chi regularly appeared on television to talk about the issue of missing children, her case attracted a lot of attention and the media covered the story.

On the day of the reunion, China Central Television (CCTV) streamed Gia Gia entering the Xi'an Public Security Bureau, shouting "mother!"

She later learned that Gia Gia was sold to a childless couple in Sichuan province for 6,000 yuan ($ 840 at present) a year after being kidnapped.

He lived and grew up in Chengdu City.

After the reunification, Gia Gia stayed in Xi'an for a month, staying with her biological mother and father respectively.

Gia Gia continued to live in Chengdu while Ms. Li remained in Xi'an.

"He's grown up now. He has his own way of thinking and is married. So I can only bless him from afar. I know where my baby is, I know he's still alive.

"The boy's personality is very similar to me. He cares very much for me," said Ms. Li.

Gia Gia does not want to interview and the police do not disclose information about his adoptive parents.

As for the person who kidnapped Gia Gia 32 years ago and how they did it, Ms. Li hopes the police will clarify.

Now, she spends a lot of time creating new memories with her lost son.

Ms. Li said that in the past few years, thanks to the efforts of Chinese authorities and media, the number of child abductions has decreased.

"I will continue to reunite people with relatives," she said.