Woman from Beijing found in rural village 26 years after going missing, father passed away but had asked son to continue looking for her

A woman from Beijing, China, has been reunited with her family after being missing for 26 years.

Encountered by chance in rural village

Sun Meihua, known online as "Sister Meihua", was brought back to Beijing by her brother on Sep. 8, after DNA testing confirmed she was his sister, according to Oriental Daily and Dimsum Daily.

Sun was reportedly encountered by chance in a rural Shandong village in April this year by a blogger known as "Chuxin", who noticed she was alone, spoke in a confused manner, and appeared to need help.

Sun reportedly told Chuxin she was not from Shandong and had long hoped to find her family and reunite with them.

Over the May Day holiday, Chuxin posted a video about Sun on Xiaohongshu appealing for help from netizens to trace her family.

DNA testing confirmed she was the missing woman

Despite her confused speech, those who saw Chuxin's video noticed that Sun could remember her father's name, other relatives, and several Beijing locations.

Volunteers subsequently helped arrange a blood test for Sun to assist in tracing her relatives. This eventually led to a match with her brother, who lives in Beijing. The sibling relationship was confirmed through DNA testing, according to the reports.

Father passed away without finding her

Several Chinese articles about Sun's case, which have allegedly been taken down, reported that she was born in Beijing in 1968, and was believed to have received higher education and come from a relatively well-off family, Oriental Daily reported.

She was reportedly fluent in English and trained in ballet and ballroom dance in her youth. She disappeared suddenly in 2000, at around 32 years old, and her family searched for her for years without success, according to the deleted reports.

Sun's father died without finding her, but had reportedly urged her brother before his death to keep searching for his sister.

Call for investigations into how she went missing

According to the deleted reports, Sun was later found to be living in a county in Shandong province, with a man around 20 years her senior.

Some locals claimed that Sun had lived in difficult conditions over the years.

Photos of Sun from her youth have since circulated online, and many reportedly expressed shock at how different she looked, questioning what she might have gone through during her missing years.

It should be noted that these details about her life in Shandong, including claims about her living conditions have not been officially verified, and stem from now-deleted articles and netizen accounts.

The case has led to calls for a full investigation into how Sun originally went missing, and whether she had been trafficked.

Related articles and trending search terms on platforms including Weibo, Sina, and NetEase, some carrying headlines describing Sun's case as a trafficking case, have since been scrubbed or blocked, and related videos are no longer accessible, according to Dimsum Daily.

As of now, no official statement has been issued on the case.

Top image via Taiwan SETNEWS Live Channel/YouTube