Twin brothers who were separated as babies have been reunited after more than 40 years following a chance encounter in China's Sichuan province.

In late June, a friend of Chengdu resident Zeng Yong, 41, said he had met a man in the city of Neijiang, 200km away, whom he claimed was identical to Mr Zeng.

Mr Zeng, a hotelier, travelled to Neijiang, home to close to four million people, to see the man for himself.

Amazingly, on meeting Liu Yonggang, a junior manager at the city's bus company, he realised he was his long-lost twin brother.

Due to their parents' poverty, the pair had been put up for adoption in 1972 when only a few months old. They were taken by different families.

Since being reunited, the brothers have tracked down their estranged 74-year-old mother.

She was living in Jianning, having remarried after the death of the boys' father a decade earlier.

The twins' story has proved popular on China's Sina Weibo social media website.

One user commented: "People nowadays can't understand the helplessness of parents in that era of poverty.

"Keeping children at home meant leaving them to die of starvation … I hope they are both happy."

Another said: "Brothers reunited. Words can't express it. 41 years apart, how sad. I wish them all the happiness."

Mr Liu's colleagues at the bus company have organised a party to celebrate the reunion and welcome the new family members to Neijiang.