Father Zheng Lizhi in Dongguan, Guangdong province, and his son, who was lost 15 years ago, found each other through a website run by volunteers for finding missing children, without having a photo.

Feeling upset after drinking alcohol on July 2, Zheng shouted at his younger son: "What do you know other than computer games? Why don’t you a send a post to websites to find your brother?"

And that was exactly what he did, reported Guangzhou Daily.

His post was pasted on the Baby Back Home website, where Guo Zhenguang, Zheng's older son, who went missing at the age of 7 under the name Zheng Guang, had also sent a post in 2010 looking for his biological parents.

Some features of the lost child, such as a birthmark to the right of his stomach and distinctive eyelids, were described in the post.

A volunteer from the website called Xiao Mei, who had been following the case of Guo Zhenguang, linked up the posts from the father and the son.

When a volunteer presented a picture of Guo Zhenguang, who now lives in Shantou, Guangdong province, to the father on July 4, he immediately recognized Guo as his lost son. His identity was proved through a DNA test arranged by the provincial public security department.

The father, accompanied by police officers in Dongguan, arrived in Shantou on Monday to visit his son.

Although the adopted parents said it is fine for Guo to reunite with his biological parents, the father had not seen his son by Tuesday for unexplained reasons.

The case was the 474th success achieved by the Baby Back Home Volunteers Association.

Chen Shiqu, head of the office for the crackdown on child abductions under the Ministry of Public Security, said in his micro blog: “Congratulations! The police will not give up on any abducted child and need the support of netizens.”

Unable to imagine what it would be like reuniting with his son, the father said to the media: "I only hope when that happens you will take a picture of us, even if we are in tears. I want to dedicate the picture to the volunteers and the police."

liwenfang@chinadaily.com.cn