The Story of a Boy Abducted at Age Three, Later Turned into a Film... 18 Years On, His Life Is Even More Remarkable

Peng Wenle, the real-life inspiration for "Dearest"
Graduates from Wuhan University and advances to a doctoral program in computer science

A Chinese man who was abducted at the age of three and reunited with his family after three years is once again in the spotlight, as he is about to enter a Ph.D. program following his university graduation.

A scene from the movie 'Dearlist'. Naver Movies

On August 15, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) and other Hong Kong media outlets reported that Peng Wenle, 21, recently graduated from the Department of Computer Science and Technology at Wuhan University, one of China’s top universities.

He is set to pursue his doctoral studies at the same university. Chinese media outlets have reported that after completing his undergraduate studies, Peng Wenle plans to continue with an integrated master’s and doctoral program in the field of computer science.

In 2008, Peng Wenle was three years old when he was abducted by a man while playing with other children near the mobile phone shop operated by his parents. His father, Peng Gaofeng, recalled that his son had disappeared from view for just a few minutes. The abductor forcibly took the child onto a bus and fled the scene.

Afterward, the family traveled throughout China searching for their son. The parents shared his photo via the internet, leaflets, and advertisements. About three years later, in 2011, a college student in Jiangsu Province provided the decisive tip that they had seen a child resembling Peng Wenle.

Ultimately, police found the boy, and after three years, Peng Wenle recognized his father upon their reunion. After confirming through DNA testing that he was indeed their biological son, he returned to his family. It was revealed that the man who abducted Peng Wenle had committed the crime out of a desire to raise a son, as he only had a daughter with his wife.

Afterwards, Peng Wenle devoted himself to his studies, scoring 632 points on the Gaokao, China’s national college entrance exam, in 2022, and was admitted to the Department of Computer Science and Technology at Wuhan University.

A scene from the movie "Dearest," which deals with the issue of child abduction in China. Naver Movie

At his university graduation ceremony this June, he remarked that he felt “grateful and happy” about his current circumstances. In a recent interview with foreign media, he stated that his parents’ relentless search changed his life, adding, “If my parents hadn’t kept searching, I might have ended up living in the countryside, farming or raising livestock.”

Currently, Peng Wenle actively shares his experiences on social networking services (SNS) and participates in efforts to help families searching for missing children based on his own story.

Meanwhile, the Peng Wenle case served as inspiration for a film addressing China’s child abduction problem. His story is known to be one of the true cases depicted in “Dearlist,” a film directed by Peter Chan and released in 2014.

Following the film’s release, Chinese authorities began operating an information-sharing system for missing children in 2016. Utilizing facial recognition technology and DNA testing, they have succeeded in finding over 8,000 missing children. However, it is still estimated that every year in China, 20,000 children are abducted and adopted into families both in China and abroad.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.