Anne Zhang

zhangy49@gmail.com

Six Shenzhen students visited families who adopted Chinese orphans in the United States over the summer. They also intend to build on the experience by spending more time at Shenzhen Social Welfare Center.

Visiting adopted children

When Tang Junyi, a student of Shenzhen Foreign Languages School, heard that more than 600 of Shenzhen Social Welfare Center’s orphans were adopted by overseas families in the past 17 years, he decided to visit the children.

“I was curious about their lives abroad,” Tang told Shenzhen Daily. Soon he organized a team of students to put his idea into practice.

Besides Tang, the team included Chen Qianying, Liu Qi and Meng Bingqian all from Shenzhen University, and Xu Haoyu and Feng Yuan, two Shenzhen students who study at American high schools.

Supported by their families, the group visited 17 U.S. families and their adopted children during the 17-day trip. The list of children was provided by Shenzhen Social Welfare Center and U.S. adoption organization, Families with Children from China.

Chen said his group was warmly welcomed by those families and they’ve built close ties with the Chinese children who have been away from China for years.

“A girl who I spent an entire afternoon with asked whether we could meet again in the future,” Chen said.

The team saw that the children they visited were happy in their new homes and they have enjoyed the benefits of the superior health care system in the United States.

“They were lucky to be adopted,” Tang said. “That’s good news.”

Different values

The team was most impressed by the U.S. families’ affection for their adopted children.

Tang said he was wondering before going to the United States whether adoptive families somehow resented the fact that some of the children had disabilities and long-term illnesses. “I was surprised that they treated the children as if they were their own, even though they had disabilities,” Tang said.

Tang attributed the families’ attitudes to the Christian value of universal love.

The team also found that the adopted Chinese children appear to be self-confident and none would feel inferior for the reason that they are adopted or disabled.

Next step

After the visit, all the six students said they would devote their time to helping Chinese orphans.

Tang said he would like to adopt an orphan after he grows up and has the financial means to do so. He also plans to spend more time at Shenzhen Social Welfare Center.

Feng and Xu who are studying in the United States have added the American families as friends on Facebook. They said they will regularly visit the families and continue to take an interest in their adopted children.