"Aunt Mei" Real Name Revealed After a 17-Year Hunt

The woman who haunted a thousand Chinese parents under nothing but a nickname finally has a real name attached to her shadow. Guangzhou police have disclosed a "Zhang," peeling back one layer of a seventeen-year fog.

Back in 2003, a child-trafficking case in Zengcheng left behind a name that only ever lived in testimonies, pencil sketches, and whispered rumors. With an actual surname now on the record, investigators — and the families who never stopped searching — finally have a thread worth pulling.

The hard part, of course, is still ahead. Somewhere out there, parents, officers, and children who have grown up in someone else's home are still waiting for the phone to ring.