Guo Gangtang, whose son was abducted in 1997, takes questions from the media in Liaocheng, Shandong province, on Wednesday, after appeals by his son's abductors were rejected by the provincial high court. Kong XiaoZheng/For China Daily 

The Shandong Provincial High People's Court on Wednesday upheld the convictions and sentences of two child traffickers, dismissing their appeals and affirming the earlier verdicts.

Hu Fuji, 59, and Tang Lixia, 48, were initially convicted of child trafficking by the Liaocheng Intermediate People's Court in December last year.

Hu received a death sentence with a two-year reprieve, while Tang was sentenced to life in prison. Both were also permanently stripped of their political rights, with all personal assets confiscated.

Following the verdict, Hu and Tang filed appeals. After reviewing the case in August, the high court said on Wednesday that it rejected their appeals and upheld the verdicts handed down by the intermediate court.

The case has drawn widespread public attention, as one of the trafficked children was the son of Guo Gangtang, whose two-decade search for his son inspired the 2015 film Lost and Love, starring Hong Kong actor Andy Lau.

On Sept 21, 1997, Guo's 2-year-old son was abducted near his home. Subsequently, the father began searching for the child, printing the boy's information on fliers and making them into flags that he would attach to his motorcycle.

Over nearly 24 years of searching, Guo traveled more than 500,000 kilometers, traversing dozens of provinces and going through 10 motorcycles in the process.

With the help of police in 2021, Guo reunited with his son, who had been found in Henan province. Hu and Tang were captured that year.

In July 2023, the Liaocheng court heard the case, during which it was revealed that Hu and Tang had trafficked four children, including Guo's son, between 1997 and 1998, and that Hu and others had trafficked another child in 2001.

On Dec 27, 2023, the intermediate court handed down the original judgment.

"When the high court informed the two child traffickers of the result of their appeals, they looked indifferent and didn't show any remorse for the families of the abducted children," Guo said, after walking out of the courtroom on Wednesday.

He added that he will continue efforts to help other parents search for their missing children and called on the public to assist as well.

According to the Chinese media, Hu, a native of Henan, had a criminal record that began before his child trafficking case. In 1988, he was sentenced to three years in prison for larceny. And in 1996, he was convicted of blackmail and served eight months.

He also received prison terms for his involvement in two previous child trafficking cases, once in 2009 and again in 2021.

Tang met Hu in 1996 while she was working in Beijing. The pair moved in together and began abducting and trafficking children for financial gain, media reports show.