The lost daughters of China : abandoned girls, their journey to America and the search for a missing past / Karin Evans.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Evans, Karin.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Orphanages--China.

Orphanages.

Abandoned children--China.

Abandoned children.

Chinese--United States.

Chinese.

Intercountry adoption.

United States.

Intercountry adoption--Case studies.

China.

Genre:

Case studies.

Physical Description:

xi, 270 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

New York , N.Y. : J.P. Tarcher/Putnam, 2000.

Summary:

In October 1997, journalist Karin Evans walked into an orphanage in southern China and met her new daughter, a beautiful one-year-old baby girl. In that fateful moment of matchmaking, she became part of a profound, increasingly common human drama that links abandoned girls in the East with parents in the West.

Each year, thousands of foreigners travel to China to bring home a child, who is, for the adoptive family, a blessing beyond measure. But the exchange has a dark side: almost all the children filling the orphanages of the world's most populous nation are girls, found tucked in doorways or bundled on park benches. For every daughter placed in waiting arms, countless others are left behind to unknown fates.

In The Lost Daughters of China, Evans explores the emotional and political complexities of an international phenomenon that creates families across the boundaries of culture and geography. She describes the trying but often comic intercontinental journey in which she and her husband -- guided by an adoption coordinator known fondly as "Saint Max," and armed with high hopes and powdered formula -- trekked with seventeen other families from Hong Kong to the Pearl River Delta to meet their daughters.

At once a compelling personal narrative and an evocative portrait of contemporary China, this book investigates the country's legacy of lost daughters. Evans casts light on an important untold story, delving into the underpinnings of an age-old cultural preference for boys, the machinations of the one-child policy, and the growing pains of modern China. In a sensitive and moving look at the unprecedented mixing of two cultures, she deftly weaves together the tales of the children themselves with the mystery of their anonymous Chinese families who remain in the shadows.

Illuminating the real-life stories behind the statistics, The Lost Daughters of China is an unforgettable account of the red thread that winds from China's orphanages to hearts around the globe.

Contents:

A Letter to All the Lost Daughters of China / Anchee Min IX

1 Journey to the East 9

2 From China with Love 47

3 Down the River 77

4 The One-Child, Maybe-One-More Policy 99

5 The Taming Power of the Small 125

6 Matters of Life and Death 157

7 East-West Lives 177

8 In the Light of the Autumn Moon 203

9 The Search for Home 217

10 Through the Chinese Looking Glass 229.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

1585420263

OCLC:

43115100