Chinese man becomes ‘Uber driver’ to find missing daughter

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“The best thing I could ever hope for,” said a Chinese driver, "is for my daughter to get in my car one day and call me dad.”

It was about 23 years ago when Wang Mingqing’s daughter was abducted when he was selling fruits in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu. In 2015, the sorrowful father chose to become a private driver using a carpooling service similar to Uber, to keep searching for his daughter while making ends meet.

In the past two years, he has asked a total of 4,933 passengers for the whereabouts of his daughter. Wang developed his own searching skills by sending out small cards with his name and contact info on it, in the hope of someone spotting his long lost daughter.

Chinese man becomes ‘Uber driver’ to find missing daughter

He spent the last two decades running between police stations, children's shelters and charity organizations looking for his daughter – but to no avail. Not a single trace was left behind. Many of Wang’s passengers are sympathetic about his misfortune, and have agreed to help with the search by posting his message on their social media accounts.

Chinese man becomes ‘Uber driver’ to find missing daughter

Police database of child-trafficking cases is yet to be open to the public in China, making it hard to put a finger on the total number of children being abducted every year. It is equally hard to get a full picture of China’s black market for trafficked children, with some claiming over 10,000 children are kidnapped on annual basis.

Chinese man becomes ‘Uber driver’ to find missing daughter

Last May, China’s Ministry of Public Security introduced an online platform to publish information on missing children across China. In the first six months, 286 posts about missing children have been published.

Chinese man becomes ‘Uber driver’ to find missing daughter

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