Thwarted Reunion

Meng Ruiyun didn't think she was asking too much. For years, she and her husband, Tong Yanqing, had dreamed of traveling to the U.S. for their daughter's graduation from law school. After all the family had been through, she felt she more than deserved a place alongside other proud parents enjoying the Columbia University ceremony. The journey would be the retired factory worker's first visit with her daughter Tong Yi in four years, her first taste of life outside Chinaand her first ride in an airplane.

Tong was no ordinary daughter and her path to New York...