A woman in central China has been reunited with her younger brother more than three decades after he was taken away as a child, following a search driven by a single old photograph, reports South China Morning Post.

Li Lin, 44, from Xiantao in Hubei province, lost contact with her brother Li Xin when they were children after a series of family tragedies left them alone. Their mother died of cancer, and their father reportedly suffered a mental breakdown and disappeared. At the ages of 11 and seven, the siblings survived by scavenging for food.

During one incident, the pair fell asleep in the back of a truck while sheltering from rain and were unknowingly transported to another city. While wandering hungry on the streets, an elderly woman approached and offered to buy bread for the younger brother. Trusting her, Lin allowed him to go, but he never returned.

Lin later said she had lived with guilt ever since, believing she had failed to protect him.

Mainland media reported that the boy was prevented from escaping and endured abuse before eventually managing to flee. He survived by begging and later settled in Guangdong province, where he was adopted by a family and given the surname Han.

Despite having no access to parental DNA records, Lin continued searching for her brother for 33 years. She travelled across China, distributed thousands of missing-person notices and spent nearly one million yuan to fund her efforts, while working various manual jobs.

A breakthrough came this year when police in Jiangxi province used facial recognition technology to identify a man surnamed Han living in Guangdong. DNA testing later confirmed the match.

The siblings were reunited on 23 March at a police station in Jiangxi, where they became emotional upon meeting. Lin brought bread with her, saying she had spent decades searching because she lost him over a single loaf.

Xin told her not to blame herself, adding that he had always believed he had an older sister and never stopped looking for her.

The following day, Lin took her brother back to their hometown in Xiantao and visited their mother’s grave with him.

Lin has since said she hopes to find their father and encourage him to return, adding that he would be forgiven.