THIS is the emotional moment a couple reunite with the son they thought had died during birth – but was actually kidnapped by their doctor.
Zhang Huaiyuan was snatched from his parents 33 years ago at a hospital in Zhejiang Province, China.
The astonishing footage shows police escorting Zhang towards crowds of onlookers to meet his birth parents for the very first time.
Zhang embraces his biological father Li Shijie first as his mother and brother stand weeping.
The whole family are then brought into the hug and wipe each others tears as hundreds continue to gather around them to watch the extraordinary reunion.
A sash is put around him as he is handed two bouquets of flowers.
At the celebration, Li reportedly gives his son a bank card that has an eye-watering £130,400 (CNY 1.2 million) on it.
In June 1991, the couple entered the hospital expecting their second child.
The doctor who helped deliver Zhang, who was born prematurely, told the parents he had not survived birth.
But in a sickening twist of events, the despicable doctor had actually stolen the child to give to his relatives who couldn’t conceive.
The couple Zhang went home to were in the 50s and living in poverty in Anhui – a province around 250 miles from his real parents.
The phoney family suffered from financial hardship as Zhang’s ‘dad’ was disabled.
This meant Zhang lost out on education after dropping out of school at just 17 to find work to support his fake parents.
Zhang’s life could have looked incredibly different however as his biological parents were wealthy merchants.
After who he believed to be his dad died last year Zhang’s ‘mum’ told him the truth out of fear he may have no family left if she died too.
Following a tireless search for his parents, Zhang was reunited with his biological family in May this year.
Zhang’s birth father, Li, initially couldn’t believe the news.
But DNA tests soon confirmed Zhang was indeed the child they believed to be dead.
Li told local media: “Just one year after the birth of the first child, my wife got pregnant with our second.
“Because the first was born via cesarean section, it had not fully healed and her incision reopened during the sixth month of pregnancy.”
After an hour of waiting for his wife to come out of surgery with the newborn, Li was told the unspeakable lie that their baby had died.
He said: “At that time, I felt like the sky was falling and I couldn’t even stand steadily.
“We didn’t even see the child. My wife was under general anaesthesia at the time and didn’t know anything.”
Li also shared his worry about his long lost sons upbringing.
He said: “I don’t know how the child has been through all these years, whether he has eaten well, whether he has been bullied, how hard it must be for a child without parents.”
But he learnt how Zhang managed to do well for himself despite his poor background.
He had opened a factory and was married with a child himself.
The Li family have visited Zhang’s home and met his wife and their nine-year-old son.
Li added: “My poor child lived for over 30 years not knowing his own birthday. From this year on, our family will finally celebrate it together.”
The viral footage moved a lot of viewers. One comment read: “Watching it brings tears to my eyes again and again.”
Another said: “Mom is as happy as a child.”
And: “Mr. Li, you are so blessed! This child is repaying your kindness. You should cherish him for the rest of your life.”
