When approached in May by a Chinese woman looking for the policeman who took her to an orphanage in Beijing 22 years ago, Hou Xiangwei immediately realized he was the man.

The woman's disfigured right hand took Hou's mind back to a chilly spring afternoon when police were called about an abandoned girl at the Temple of Heaven park.

"When I arrived, there was a large crowd of people around. The girl was small. She could walk but couldn't speak," the 52-year-old recalled. "She was standing there with her right hand covered by gauze and stopped crying."