China twins, reunited after 17 years, become best friends before learning truth | World News

Twin sers in northern China, separated at just 10 days old and adopted different families, were unknowingly reunited 17 years later—forming a deep friendship before discovering they were siblings. Zhang Guoxin and Hai Chao were born in Hebei province and given up their birth parents due to financial hardship.
One condition of their separate adoptions was that both families must live in the same city.
Until they turned 17, neither knew of the other’s exence. But fate drew them to each other when Hai heard from a classmate that a shop assant at a local store looked exactly like her. Out of curiosity, she went to meet the lookalike.
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A strange familiarity
The moment Hai met Zhang, she said she felt a strong connection. According to SCMP, the two discovered a string of similarities: identical birth dates, matching voices, hairstyles, tastes in food, and a shared near-death illness at around 100 days old.
They quickly became best friends.
Both adoptive families were aware of the truth but kept it hidden out of fear the girls might seek out their birth parents.
Truth revealed families after 14 months
After 14 months of friendship, their adoptive parents revealed they were in fact twin sers.
To determine who was older, they played a game of rock-paper-scissors—Zhang won, and the families later confirmed she was indeed the elder.Story continues below this ad

Both women had bought homes in neighbouring housing compounds without prior discussion. Their children, now 13, attend the same school—and are even in the same class. Teachers have reportedly struggled to tell the mothers apart during parent-teacher meetings.
20 years of reunion, still no contact with birth parents
Now aged 37, Zhang and Hai run a joint social media account with over 62,000 followers. They recently marked the 20th anniversary of their reunion with a heartfelt post: “Every day of the past two decades was full of happiness. I am grateful to have met you. Let’s look forward to our next two decades.”
According to SCMP, they have never attempted to find their biological parents.
Online reactions have poured in. “The world is big, but the earth is round. People who are destined to be together will eventually meet,” one social media user wrote. Another said, “You missed each other’s childhood, but you will spend the rest of your life happily together.”
(With inputs from South China Morning Post)