Two women in China who were swapped at birth 37 years ago have discovered they lived their entire lives just four kilometers apart, according to the South China Morning Post.
Huang and Li were born 55 minutes apart in October 1989 at Qingyuan People's Hospital in Guangdong province. At the time, the hospital used name tags attached to swaddling cloths instead of identification bracelets for newborns, and the tags were mixed up during hospital procedures and reswaddling.
Two very different childhoods
Huang grew up in a well-off family of civil servants. Her adoptive father noticed she had a different blood type and no physical resemblance to him, and suspected his wife of infidelity. The couple divorced when Huang was five. In 2022, hoping to repair her relationship with her father, Huang took a DNA test and was shocked to learn she was not the biological daughter of either parent.
Li grew up in a family that owned a small grocery store. Her adoptive father lost all of the family's savings in a financial pyramid scheme, and the family struggled throughout her childhood. Li dropped out of school and worked as a tour guide, a hotel receptionist and a shop clerk.
A reunion and a lawsuit
With police help, Huang found her biological family in April 2025 and met Li around the same time. Their first meeting, at a cafe, was nervous, exciting and slightly awkward. Li was stunned to learn she had lived just four kilometers from her biological parents all along.
Both women decided to keep their ties to the families that raised them, but they have filed a lawsuit against the hospital demanding compensation of 2.6 million yuan, about 34 million rubles. The hospital said records of their births have been lost and that most of the staff who worked there at the time have either left or died. A hearing in the case is scheduled for August 13.
