A Chinese man kidnapped as a toddler 32 years ago has been reunited with his biological parents, after police used facial recognition technology to help track him down.

Mao Yin was just two when he was snatched outside a hotel in Xi'an in central Shaanxi province in 1988 and sold to a childless couple in neighbouring Sichuan province who raised him as their own son, Xi'an's public security bureau said in a statement.

Police "aged" one of Mao's childhood photos, according to state broadcaster CCTV, and used the model to scan the national database and find close matches. They were acting on a tipoff that a person in a certain area of Sichuan had bought a child in the late 80's. On Monday, the now 34-year-old had a tearful reunion with his birth parents who had never given up the search for their missing boy.