Twist of fate: Reunited after 34 years, Chinese man falls out with family over financial dispute

On his social media account comprising as many as 326,000 followers, Yu Baobao claimed that he ended all relationship with his birth family because of financial disputes.

Miracles do happen. Emotional reconnections aren't just fiction. Getting reunited with one's long lost family is not just a plot from a Hollywood blockbuster. But do all such heartwarming stories have a happy ending? Unfortunately not. A Chinese man named Yu Baobao has a somewhat similar story to share.

Baobao, aged 37 currently, was seperated from his family at a very early age in his life. After a long, tedious and taxing search of 34 years, he finally found his lost family in 2023 and was able to reunite with them. However, fate had other plans. In a rather anticlimactic turn of events, Baobao revealed that he cut ties with his family this year over issues related to money, according to a report by the South China Morning Post.

On his social media account comprising as many as 326,000 followers, Baobao claimed that he had ended all relationship with his birth family because of financial disputes.

Before finding his birth family and getting to know his true name in September last year, he lived under the name Li Qiang. At the age of two, he was kidnapped by human traffickers from his grandparents' house in the Sichuan province of southwest China. He was then purchased by a wealthy family in the Henan area of central China, who often mistreated him and physically assaulted him.

Soon, he fled from the house which adopted him and started to live his like a nomad. He then proceeded to work in Beijing and Shanghai after turning 19, eventually settling down as a delivery rider in the nation's capital.

Baobao, however, never stopped searching for his biological family in all these years. His relentless pursuit finally paid off, as he was reunited with him mother last year confirmed by a successful DNA test match.

Many were inspired by his intense affection and connection with his family and encouraged him to venture into internet e-commerce live-streaming to earn money for a living.

Under the influence of his divorced biological parents, Baobao decided to operate his internet sales company with his two brothers and provided them 60 per cent of their total revenues with a view to financially support them - both of whom were in debt.

Their first live-streaming session was a great success, earning them a whopping 470,000 yuan (about $66,000).

However, soon after this, Baobao claimed that he had not received his portion of the profits from his brothers. He even provided evidence of bank transfers which showed that he had given his brothers the correct amount of money.

In addition, he claimed that his brothers also had been rude with him, saying that they were doing him a "favour" by including him in their family. He added that after more rounds of argument over the money, one of his brothers even referred to him by his adopted name and threatened to beat him up.

Baobao said that when he found out that his mother was favouring her other two kids and kept requesting more money from him, he felt genuinely disappointed.