Substitute son: Chinese man returns 40 years after abduction to find cousin took place in family to protect mother from abusive father

A man in China who found his biological relatives 40 years after he got lost and was abducted as a child was shocked to find that his place in the family had been taken by another person.

After getting lost and being adopted by another family more than four decades ago, Yang Changlin finally found his original home with the help of police.

However, when they were finally reunited, Yang did not receive the welcome he expected from his real family; his place in the family had been taken by someone else masquerading as him.

Around the age of six, Yang left his home in central China’s Hunan province to look for his mother, who previously had gone to her parents’ home in southwest China’s Guizhou province to get away from her abusive husband.

Yang took a train alone and was abducted on the way.

He ended up being adopted by his foster father, Li Laiying, a traditional Chinese medicine doctor in Henan in central China and was given the name Li Jiangang.

But Yang did not forget his roots, and this year he decided to seek help from Xiao Zhenyu, a Henan police officer who specialised in searches for lost relatives.

Xiao told local media City Report that with the information Yang provided, his team successfully located his original home.

Police officer Xiao said he was also shocked to learn of the existence of another “Yang Changlin”.

The abused mother had asked her elder brother’s son, Liu Shaobiao, to pretend to be Yang Changlin in 1991, around 10 years after Yang went missing.

Her move was a desperate attempt to escape more beatings from her abusive husband who was angry about his only son getting lost.

“My mother was almost beaten to death by him,” Yang’s second elder sister, Yang Qiumei, said.

Cousin Liu said he agreed to throw away his previous life, and came hundreds of kilometres from Guizhou to live in Hunan to prevent his aunt suffering any more abuse.

Liu’s real identity remained a secret until their father died, according to Yang’s sisters. Although she treated Liu as her son, their mother never stopped thinking of her real son until her death in 2008.

The sisters said they hesitated to tell the truth because they did not want to hurt Liu’s feelings, and they have already seen both Liu and Yang as their closest brothers.

Yang Qiumei added: “I think my little brother was lucky to have got lost. He wouldn’t have lived so well if he had been living in this family.”

The heartbreaking story has stunned and touched many on social media after it was reported by City Report on September 2.

“What a sad life their mother lived, having to find a fake son to get away from domestic violence,” said a person on Weibo.

“I’m touched by the cousin who hid his real identity for 30 years to help out his suffering aunt and cousins,” said another online observer.

“I’m shocked that the father did not recognise his son, and received no punishment at all for the domestic violence he perpetrated,” said a third.