A Chinese teenager who was reunited with his parents who sold him as a baby has committed suicide after they rejected him for a second time.
Liu Xuezhou died on Monday morning at a beach in Sanya, on China's southern Hainan Island, according to local reports.
The 17-year-old's story went viral when he posted a video on December 6 launching a search for his biological family.
He told viewers that he had been born Hebei province sometime between 2004 and 2006, and had been sold by his parents to another family that adopted him.
However, according to Liu his adoptive parents later died in a fireworks accident when he was just four years old.
Liu Xuezhou (pictured left with a man reported to be his biological father, right) was found dead on Monday after his biological parents rejected him for a second time, after he was sold as a child. He had tracked his parents down through a search on social media
He then lived with the parents of his adoptive mother, whom he referred to as his grandparents, and survived off child support given to them and relatives of his adoptive father.
The teenager said on his Weibo social media page last year that he was working part-time to pay for his studies.
Later in December, Liu posted to Weibo that he had been able to track down his biological parents.
Local reports said police were made aware of Liu's search and were able to find the teenager's father through DNA testing on December 15.
He first met his father in Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei, of December 27, according to Sina News.
Lui posted pictures reportedly showing him with his father on Weibo of their initially happy reunion, writing 'We have met!' and thanking people who helped in his search.
However, Lui later said that his father refused to take him in, telling his son that he was already raising another family having earlier divorced his mother.
The teenager was then able to track his mother down in January, finding her in Inner Mongolia. But she also rejected him, with their reunion reportedly turning sour when he asked her for financial support.
Beijing News reported that she told him she just 'wanted a peaceful life,' and that she also had her own family to support. Some reports suggested his biological parents had since remarried, but had separate families in the meantime.
