Chinese teen reunites with biological parents through social media, kills self days later

A Chinese teen died by suicide days after reuniting with his birth parents. Since his reunion with his birth parents was in the public eye, his suicide, too, grabbed attention.

A Chinese teen died by suicide days after reuniting with his birth parents. The reunion of Liu Xuezhou with his birth parents was in the public eye as he took the help of social media to search for his biological parents, as per a report by The Washington Post.

The police found the couple - who were married to other people - and organised a meeting. It looked like everything was fine as Liu shared photos of him reunited with his birth parents.

But things quickly took an ugly turn as they had a much publicised falling out after the teen claimed that he had been sold and not given away.

Further, Liu asked for financial support from his birth parents. As the fight gained public attention, social media commentators took sides and piled on the incident. Many even accused Liu of being selfish.

Some details of Liu’s birth and adoption, including his exact age, are reported to be disputed. He was born sometime between 2004 and 2006 in the countryside of northern Hebei province. His birth father says he was 15 years old but his official identity card identified him at 17-years-old.

Since his parents were not married, they decided to sell the baby. Liu’s adoptive family told a Shanghai-based outlet that they paid about $4,200 for the baby.

But in 2009, Liu was orphaned after his adoptive parents died. Their extended family took over his guardianship.