BuzzFeed editor meets 'Brother Orange' in strange tale of the lost iPhone
One is a New York-based online editor, and the other is a restaurant owner in southern China who occasionally takes photos with his phone.
The two men from the opposite sides of the earth finally met yesterday in what some dubbed a “miracle meeting”, and all because of a lost iPhone.
Matt Stopera, from US website BuzzFeed, travelled from New York to Meizhou in Guangdong to meet the new owner of his phone, which was tracked to Mr Li after one of Stopera’s posts went viral.
Stopera and Li, dubbed ‘Brother Orange’ due to a notorious selfie with orange tress, hugged after the American arrived at Jieyang airport on Tuesday evening.
“I am overwhelmed by everyone’s kindness! Thank you Brother Orange,” Stopera told his 180,000-or-so followers on Weibo. “I am so excited for a week of adventures with you.”
The pair’s meeting follows an online post by Stopera in late February in which he discussed mysterious posts appearing in his photo stream. The photos, which featured fireworks, shop fronts and a man with an orange tree, were, as Stopera learned later, from an iPhone he lost a year ago at a New York bar.
A Chinese microblogger translated Stopera’s story and reposted it on Weibo in late February, soon attracting millions of viewers and triggering a nationwide online manhunt to track down the new owner of the phone. The following day ‘Brother Orange’ had been identified, by his own nephew.
Li explained that the handset was a gift from a relative and invited Stopera to visit and try some Hakka cuisine.
Having taken Li up on his offer, Stopera spent Wednesday morning having a breakfast of pickled radish and porridge before taking lunch at Li’s restaurant.
“This is the experience of a lifetime,” Stopera said on Weibo.
