True Crime Story: The Fifteen Year Search for Shen Cong

The "Auntie Mei" (Mei Yi) case is one of China's most notorious child trafficking investigations, centered on a criminal network led by a woman known as Mei Yi and her associate Zhang Weiping, who kidnapped at least nine children between 2003 and 2005,,. One high-profile victim, Shen Junliang, spent fifteen years searching across China for his son, Shen Cong, who was violently snatched from their home as an infant before finally being reunited with him in 2020 through the help of advanced facial recognition technology. Although the primary traffickers have been captured and sentenced—with Auntie Mei herself apprehended in March 2026—the case highlights the enduring trauma for families and the ongoing threat of trafficking networks that continue to evolve their methods.