Zou Yuhua (L) and Zhang Mingfa pose for photos at their feed store on Jan 26 in Jianyang, Southwest China's Sichuan province.[Photo/CFP]

The discovery of a leaflet has led to a couple in Sichuan province being reunited with their son, who was taken away three decades ago because of the family planning policy.

"I'm so overwhelmed with excitement. I didn't expect it to be true, but my son has returned after so many years," said 59-year-old Zou Yuhua, who gave birth to a second son in 1983.

Six months later, government workers and police-men visited Zou in Wolong village, Laojunjing township, and took away her baby.

The family-planning policy was strictly enforced in Sichuan province because it had a population of more than 100 million before its largest city, Chongqing, became a municipality in 1997.

Wu Taizhang, who was Party chief of Laojunjing township at the time, said that if a villager gave birth to a second child, it would be taken away and given to a couple without children.

After their son was taken away, Zou and her husband Zhang Mingfa learned that he had been given to a family in Jinyu township. Zhang tried to visit a single man surnamed Wang who had adopted a son similar in age to his own, but he was driven away by people from the township.

In 1997, however, Wang took a 14-year-old boy to Zhang's home, saying he must be their son and that he could no longer afford to support him.