TV host Li Qiyue runs a missing person unit to help families reunite.
By Cathleena Zhu
After being the host of a TV programme that helps reunite families for six years, Li Qiyue has learnt to be a better mother.
“I often think about my relationship with my three-year-old son after learning stories of so many families. I realise that it is important to spend quality time with my child and respect him as an individual while nurturing him,” the TV host of Waiting for Me says.
Li says she always tries hard to strike a balance between time spent with her son and her career.
“I often have to travel to different cities for my work. I apply for leave for my son from his school and take him to work with me,” the 37-year-old mother says.
Her son loves to draw landscapes he sees after doing a trip with his mother.
“I sign him up for an art class and buy him a yoga mat, as he loves drawing and doing yoga. The TV programme has taught me to be a better mother,” Li says.
“My husband and I want our son to see the world out there. I think children who have been exposed to a broader perspective will have better mental health,” she adds.
Li recalls her first search operation was to look for a 24-year-old man who had gone missing for nine years in Henan Province in February 2018.
“The young man tried to lift a huge flower pot and threw it at us. We had to suspend filming. I must try to understand his feelings. Children who have been separated from their families are insecure. They all have a lock in their hearts. I must try to find the key to open it,” Li says.
Li tried to approach the young man as a friend by chatting with him about his diet and hobbies. It took her three days to persuade him to share his stories with her.
“I felt a great sense of achievement from my job when he first talked to me,” she recalls.
The TV programme Li produced was first aired on China Central Television (CCTV) in 2014. The show has so far helped more than 20,000 families.
The programme which conducts searches to locate children who are abducted or have run away from home is funded by grants from the Yuanmeng Foundation and the Chinese government.
Li’s family also has experienced the same ordeal.
Her aunt was abducted while playing in a yard outside her home in 1964. She was five.
Her family has been in a constant state of anxiety ever since, as her aunt is still missing.
There were no mobile phones in Li’s home and no surveillance cameras on the country roads in the 1960s. It took her family three days to go to a police station to report the case in downtown Harbin.
Li’s family printed out thousands of photos of her aunt and posted them all over the village. But all efforts were in vain.
Her grandparents often suffer from insomnia after losing their child. Li’s grandaunt has become moderately anorexic. She has forgotten almost everything, but finding her daughter is all she cares about.
“After I was born, for as long as I can remember, I often heard my family talking about my aunt. Her story was something I grew up with. My parents taught me how to protect myself and not to trust strangers so easily when I was a child,” Li says.
The media major graduate of the Communication University of China hopes to find her aunt with what she has learned at school.
After graduation, Li joined CCTV. Her aunt’s abduction was her biggest motivation to host Waiting for Me.
“I understand the sadness of these families who have suffered from separation from their loved ones. That is why I accepted the role of host when the producer offered me the job in 2018,” Li says.
Since joining the team, she has reported stories of nearly 500 families whom she has helped reunite.
Despite the successes, more than 200 family searches conducted by Li’s team failed to locate the missing ones.
“I always remind these families that the search is not finished yet. I also remind myself that this is not the end of it. I am confident that I can find my aunt in the future. I will not give up,” the host says.
Sub-edited by Cynthia Chan
