Child trafficking is a significant issue in China, with many blaming the one-child policy for an increase in child abductions, particularly of boys, Quartz reported. According to a GSI report, around 10,000 children are trafficked each year in China for illegal adoption, labor, begging, and other malicious purposes. Every day, headlines emerge about children reuniting with their biological families. One such story is that of Li Jingwei, reported by CBS News, whose journey to find his family highlights the power of memory.
Representative Image Source: Pexels | Cottonbro
Li was abducted when he was four years old. In 1989, a bald neighbor lured him away and took him behind a hill where other kidnappers were waiting. Despite his screams, they stowed him on a bike and that was it. He never saw his home again. He spent more than three decades trying to locate his beloved family. In the end, his memory and imagination came to his rescue.
Representative Image Source: Pexels | Pixabay
Li, who worked in Guangdong Province, knew that he had been kidnapped as a child, but he no longer remembered the names of his original parents. On December 24, 2020, he posted a video on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, showing a map he had drawn from a memory of his childhood home. The hand-drawn map included scribbles of the features he remembered such as a building he believed to be a school, a bamboo forest, and a small pond. “I’m a child who’s finding his home. I was taken to Henan by a bald neighbor around 1989 when I was about four years old,” he said in the video, per VICE. “This is a map of my home area that I have drawn from memory,” he added.
Here is the map Li Jingwei drew and posted online.
— Sophie Williams (@sophierose233) January 1, 2022
The map included features like a building he believed to be a school, a bamboo forest, and a small pond. pic.twitter.com/28fxkxykxW
He was inspired to continue his search after seeing other reunions that popped up in the news. He mentioned the case of Guo Gangtang, a Chinese father who reunited with his son after 24 years, and Sun Haiyang, who reunited with his son after 14 years. “Seeing Sun Haiyang and Guo Gangtang successfully reunited with their families, I also hope to find my own birth parents, return home, and reunite with my family,” Li told the local media. Soon enough, he was able to narrow down his search to Zhaotong, a mountainous city in Yunnan, with the assistance of his map and the authorities.
When he was 37 years old in 2021, Li’s story quickly spread on social media, attracting the attention of the Ministry of Public Security, which got involved in the investigation, as CNN reported. Within a few days, a woman in Yunnan was located who could be his biological mother. A video call was connected between Li and the woman.
Representative Image Source: Pexels | Shvetsa
In the phone call, the woman accurately described a scar on his chin, recalling that he had fallen off a ladder as a toddler. Following this clue, DNA tests were carried out. Finally, on December 28, the Douyin account of the country's Public Security Ministry’s Anti-Human Trafficking Office confirmed that the two were related. The two were reunited.
“Thirty-three years of waiting, countless nights of yearning, and finally a map hand-drawn from memory, this is the moment of perfect release after 13 days,” Li wrote on his Douyin profile. “Thank you, everyone who has helped me reunite with my family.” When speaking about his father who was no longer alive, Li’s eyes were welling with tears. He said that he’d now take responsibility for the two teenage children in his house. "It's going to be a real big reunion," he said. "I want to tell him that his son is back."
Ultrasound of human baby.Image via 
IVF animated process.Image via 
A couple speaks with a fertility professional.Image via 
Love, Mom.Photo from Heidi Johnson 
A teen boy having a hard time. 
Hands hold a digital representation of the brain.Image via 
Mother and daughter work a puzzle.Image via 
Man and woman connect under the sunshine.Image via 
The obituary paints a comic, if bleak, picture. 
A Facebook post about the obituary.
Why do some folks use social media but don't engage?
Psychologist says people who never comment on social media share these 5 positive traits
For over 20 years, social media has developed into a staple in many people’s day-to-day lives. Whether it’s to keep in communication with friends and family, following the thoughts of celebrities, or watching cat videos while sipping your morning coffee, there seem to be two types of social media users: commenters and lurkers.
The term “lurker” sounds equally mysterious and insidious, with some social media users writing them off as non-participants at best or voyeurs at worst. However, mindfulness expert Lachlan Brown believes these non-commenters have some very psychologically positive and healthy traits. Let’s take a look at how each one of these traits could be beneficial and see how fruitful lurking might be even though it can drive content creators crazy.
1. Cautious about vulnerability
Consciously or not, making a post online or commenting on one puts you and your words out there. It’s a statement that everyone can see, even if it’s as simple as clicking “like.” Doing so opens yourself up to judgment, with all the good, bad, and potential misinterpretation that comes with it. Non-commenters would rather not open themselves up to that.
These silent users are connected to a concept of self-protection by simply not engaging. By just scrolling past posts or just reading/watching them without commentary, they’re preventing themselves from any downsides of sharing an opinion such as rejection, misunderstanding, or embarrassment. They also have more control on how much of themselves they’re willing to reveal to the general public, and tend to be more open face-to-face or during one-on-one/one-on-few private chats or DMs. This can be seen as a healthy boundary and prevents unnecessary exposure.
Considering many comment sections, especially involving political topics, are meant to stir negative emotional responses to increase engagement, being extra mindful about where, when, and what you comment might not be a bad idea. They might not even take the engagement bait at all. Or if they see a friend of theirs post something vulnerable, they feel more motivated to engage with them personally one-on-one rather than use social media to publicly check in on them.
2. Analytical and reflective mindset
How many times have you gone onto Reddit, YouTube, or any other site and just skimmed past comments that are just different versions of “yes, and,” “no, but,” or “yes, but”? Or the ever insightful, formerly popular comment “First!” in a thread? These silent browsers lean against adding to such noise unless they have some valid and thoughtful contribution (if they bother to comment period).
These non-posters are likely wired on reflective thinking rather than their initial intuition. Not to say that all those who comment aren’t thoughtful, but many tend to react quickly and comment based on their initial feelings rather than absorbing the information, thinking it over, researching or testing their belief, and then posting it. For "lurkers," it could by their very nature to just do all of that and not post it at all, or share their thoughts and findings privately with a friend. All in all, it’s a preference of substance over speed.
3. High sense of self-awareness
Carried over from the first two listed traits, these silent social media users incorporate their concern over their vulnerability and their reflective mindset into digital self-awareness. They know what triggers responses out of them and what causes them to engage in impulsive behavior. It could be that they have engaged with a troll in the past and felt foolish. Or that they just felt sad after a post or got into an unnecessary argument that impacted them offline. By knowing themselves and seeing what’s being discussed, they choose to weigh their words carefully or just not participate at all. It’s a form of self-preservation through restraint.
4. Prefer to observe rather than perform
Some folks treat social media as information, entertainment, or a mix of both, and commenting can feel like they’re yelling at the TV, clapping alone in a movie theater when the credits roll, or yelling “That’s not true!” to a news anchor that will never hear them. But contrary to that, social media is a place where those yells, claps, and accusations can be seen and get a response. By its design, social media is considered by experts and the media as performative, regardless of whether it is positive or negative. Taking all of the previously mentioned traits into account, one can see why they would prefer to “observe the play” rather than get up on the stage of Facebook or X.
On top of that, these non-commenters could be using social media differently than those who choose to fully engage with it. Using this type of navigation, there may be nothing for them to comment about. Some commenters are even vying for this for their mental health. There are articles about how to better curate your social media feeds and manipulate algorithms to create a better social media experience to avoid unnecessary conflict or mentally tiring debate.
If you go on a blocking spree on all of your accounts and just follow the posters that boost you, it could turn your social media into a nice part of your routine as you mainly engage with others face-to-face or privately. In terms of commenting, if your curated Instagram is just following cute dogs and all you have to offer for a comment is “cute dog,” you might just enjoy the picture and then move on with your day rather than join in the noise. These non-commenters aren’t in the show and they’re fine with it.
5. Less motivated by social validation
The last trait that Brown showcases is that social media users who browse without posting tend to be independent from external validation, at least online. Social media is built to grow through feedback loops such as awarding likes, shares, and reposts of your content along with notifications letting you know that a new person follows you or wants to connect. This can lead many people to connect their activity on social media with their sense of self worth, especially with adolescents who are still figuring out their place in the world and have still-developing brains.
Engaging in social media via likes, shares, comments, and posts rewards our brains by having them release dopamine, which makes us feel good and can easily become addictive. For whatever reason, non-commenters don’t rely on social media as a means to gauge their social capital or self worth. This doesn’t make them better than those who do. While some non-commenters could have healthier ways to boost their self worth or release dopamine into their systems, many get that validation from equally unhealthy sources offline. That said, many non-commenters’ silence could be a display of independence and self confidence.
Whether you frequently comment online or don’t, it’s good to understand why you do or don’t. Analyzing your habits can help you determine whether your online engagement is healthy, or needs to be tweaked. With that information, you can then create a healthy social media experience that works for you.