KEY POINTS:
A full picture was emerging today of the father of three-year-old Qian Xun Xue, who he left at a Melbourne railway station before flying to the United States at the weekend.
Mr Xue is aged in his fifties and is also known by his English name, Michael.
He lived with his daughter, who turns 4 in December, and his wife Anan Liu, 27 - also known as Annie - in a Mt Roskill, Auckland house.
She has not been seen despite police searches of the family home and other addresses.
He is the director of the Chinese Times One Group, an Auckland publishing company.
Annie is understood to be his second wife.
A neighbour of the family have described the Xues as quiet. Mr Rata told The Age that the family kept to themselves.
"He was a bit of an odd one. He used to walk around during the day in his underwear with a singlet on," Mr Rata said.
Mr Xue's last business address for the Chinese Times was in an office block on Queen Street where he ran an office out of the Victoria Institute of New Zealand - an educational organisation.
A man from the institute who did not give his name said today that Mr Xue had not been seen for a week and he was looking for him.
He said Mr Xue had been using the office for three to four weeks.
"I am confused why he didn't come," he said.
The man said he was concerned about Mr Xue but did not know where he was or what he was doing.
He said the Victoria Institute was not related to Mr Xue's business but only shared an office.
Sources who know Mr Xue said there were disputes at the company about his management style.
A friend, Nai Quan Xie, said he hadn't heard from Mr Xue or his wife since last Tuesday. He had frequently phoned them, but got no answer.
He usually talked to Mr Xue most days as he (the missing man) taught Mr Xie taijuquanj wu style, a Chinese martial art. Mr Xue describes himself as a grand master of it.
The police had contacted Mr Xie, but he said he was unable to tell them anything about Mr Xue's or his wife's whereabouts.
He said he did not know why Mr Xue had run off.
But sources in Melbourne said it was understood Mr Xue had debts and was depressed.
He is also understood to be proud of being the father of a 3-year-old girl as a middle-aged man and spoke often about his daughter.
Mr Xue and his wife moved to New Zealand from northern China 12 years ago.
Inspector Brad Shallies of Victoria Police told the Herald last night that his main concern was finding a relation for the girl.
He urged all New Zealanders to study her photograph.
"Have a look at the photo and please contact the police if you are aware of who the child is or more particularly where her family may be in New Zealand," he said.
"Please do not be concerned - although we are a law-enforcement agency, our focus is really on building some type of family structure back around the girl.
"I'll worry about any criminal provisions or similar at a later time."
Mr Shallies said the girl and her father arrived in Melbourne on New Zealand passports at 7.45pm on Thursday.
They spent two nights in a city hotel, then went to the Southern Cross railway station on Saturday morning.
Closed-circuit TV camera film shows the girl's father leading her by the hand and pulling a suitcase behind him about 8am.
He is then seen bending down and whispering something in the child's ear before leaving her at the base of the escalator.
The security film shows him walking away without looking back.
Rail commuter Dan West told Seven Network he noticed the girl standing next to the escalator soon after. She was alone and in tears.
"I just went up and got down low and made eye contact. That was about as much as I could do. I didn't know what language she spoke or anything like that."
Security officials were called, and they searched the station.
But attempts to find the girl's father were fruitless.
Police say he went directly from the station to the airport and left Australia on a flight bound for the United States.
Mr Shallies said it was still not known why the girl was abandoned, but it was believed the separation was deliberate.
"To walk away and not look back, that's distressing," he said.
The Department of Human Services' director of child protection and family services, Christina Asquini, said Pumpkin had been well cared for.
"We would be asking that her mother, her father or any extended family to make their way forward so ... they can help us work out what's best for her in the future," she said.
It's believed her father may have flown to Los Angeles, but Australian police were awaiting confirmation last night of his flight details and if he was still in America.
In New Zealand, Child, Youth and Family is on standby to help police if necessary.
A spokeswoman said there was no indication CYF had previously dealt with the girl or her family, but news.com.au reported that there had been a previous investigation.
Mr Shallies said the child did not speak for the first two days she was in care, but was more forthcoming yesterday. She appeared more settled and was asking for her mother, but had said "nothing significant to drive any sort of lines of inquiry at the moment".
When found at the railway station Pumpkin was wearing bright pink corduroy long pants.
She also wore a long-sleeved pink top under a Pumpkin Patch aqua/blue vest with red and pink diamond squares and white pattern lines and a long-sleeved pink top. She wore white running shoes that light up.
- additional reporting: NZPA, Agencies
