Zhang Xinkai, 13, who was rescued from a touring circus, gets a hug from his grandmother at a police station in this photo released yesterday by police in Shanghai's Fengxian District where he was found on the street.

AFTER four years performing in streets around the country with an illegalcircus, 13-year-old Zhang Xinkai has been reunited with his family, thanks to police in Shanghai.

Zhang's father and grandmother came to the city earlier this week to take the boy home to Xuzhou, a small city on the north tip of Shanghai's neighboring Jiangsu Province, police said yesterday.

Tightly clutching her long-missing grandson by the arm, the grandmother knelt down in front of city police officers to express her thanks.

"Thank you for all you have done for me," said the boy in a letter to police officer Yang Dongchun, who found and rescued him in suburban Fengxian District.

Two organizers of the circus have been detained, police said.

On July 22, Yang, who was on duty in Qixian Town in Fengxian, saw the boy performing with a snake as part of a circus act on the street. "He was the only one whose clothes were in shreds and tatters," said Yang. "He was obviously undernourished."

The abduction was exposed after police took the circus organizers in for investigation.

Four years ago in his hometown, Zhang, then nine years old, was tricked into joining the circus after the organizers said he could learn kung fu with them.

But the dream of running away to join a circus quickly became a nightmare.

The boy told police he only got one meal a day. The clothes he wore were those discarded by others.

Always at risk of being bitten by snakes, Zhang was forced to perform at shows in towns and cities throughout the country.

"He would get a fiercebeatingwhenever he was unwilling to perform," officers said.

Other children who performed in the circus had a much better life as they were the children of the organizers.

Zhang was also forced to do chores such as cleaning and washing, police said.

Officers bought clothes and books for the boy who had difficulties in communicating with them after years of hard work and neglect.

But police officers managed to identify and contact the boy's parents earlier this month.

"I hope he will catch up with his studies and go to college," said Yang.

The boy's father, Zhang Qingtong, a mason, said the family adopted the boy when he was a baby.

"For most of the time we thought that we would never see him again."

In a country where children abduction is not uncommon, Zhang is one of the lucky ones.

Chinese police rescued more than 2,000 kidnapped children in 1,717 cases during a nationwide campaign against child trafficking last year.

• grandmother [´græn,mʌðə] n.(外)祖母 (初中英语单词)
• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• neighboring [´neibəriŋ] a.邻近的；接壤的 (初中英语单词)
• province [´prɔvins] n.省；领域；范围 (初中英语单词)
• obviously [´ɔbviəsli] ad.明显地；显而易见地 (初中英语单词)
• investigation [in,vesti´geiʃən] n.调查(研究) (初中英语单词)
• running [´rʌniŋ] a.奔跑的；流动的 (初中英语单词)
• fierce [fiəs] a.残忍的；强烈的 (初中英语单词)
• whenever [wen´evə] conj.&ad.无论何时 (初中英语单词)
• neglect [ni´glekt] vt.&n.疏忽；忽视；忽略 (初中英语单词)
• identify [ai´dentifai] vt.认出；鉴定；验明 (初中英语单词)
• contact [´kɔntækt] n.接触；联系 v.联络 (初中英语单词)
• circus [´sə:kəs] n.马戏(团)；圆形广场 (高中英语单词)
• tightly [´taitli] ad.紧，紧密地 (高中英语单词)
• campaign [kæm´pein] n.战役；行动 vi.从军 (高中英语单词)
• grandson [´grænsʌn] n.孙子；外孙子 (英语四级单词)
• nightmare [´naitmeə] n.梦魇；恶梦 (英语四级单词)
• bitten [´bitn] bite的过去分词 (英语四级单词)
• unwilling [ʌn´wiliŋ] a.不愿意的；不情愿的 (英语四级单词)
• uncommon [ʌn´kɔmən] a.非常的，非凡的，罕见的 (英语四级单词)
• illegal [i´li:gəl] a.不合法的，非法的 (英语六级单词)
• suburban [sə´bə:bən] a.郊区的 n.郊区居民 (英语六级单词)
• beating [´bi:tiŋ] n.敲；搅打；失败 (英语六级单词)