The Chinese new year is a time of family reunions. But Mr. Xiao is preparing to spend his sixth new year without his son, who was abducted (诱拐) in 2007 by suspected child traffickers. China’s one-child policy has fuelled demand for children, thousands of whom are snatched and sold every year to desperate, usually boyless, couples. Spurred (刺激) by the campaigning of parents like Mr. Xiao, the government is starting to pay more attention to the crime. But curbing it is proving tough.
Mr. Xiao has been trying the hard way to raise awareness of the crime; driving around the country in a minivan covered with posters of missing children. Mr. Xiao, who lives in a village near Tongzhou, one of Beijing’s satellite towns, says he has spent as much as 400,000 yuan ($64,300) of his own money on the project. He says there are other parents elsewhere in China who tour the country in similarly bedecked (装饰的) vehicles.