Chinese girl adopted by American family miraculously reunited with her birth parents on Hangzhou’s

South China Morning Post ^ | 3 Dec 2017 / UPDATED ON 30 Apr 2018 | Enid Tsui

[Zhang Fei]

Twenty-two years ago, a heavily pregnant Qian Fenxiang hid herself and her three-year-old daughter on a houseboat on a secluded Suzhou canal, 120km away from her home in Hangzhou, and waited.

Six weeks later, she gave birth on the boat to a second daughter, a child who should have been aborted under China’s draconian one-child policy, introduced in 1979 as a means to reduce poverty.

Xu Lida, her husband, had cut the cord with a pair of scissors he had sterilised with boiling water and, for a do-it-yourself delivery, all seemed to be going well – until the placenta wouldn’t drop. It was a dangerous complication, but hospital care was out of the question. Fortunately for the couple, there was a small clinic near where they were moored, and a doctor who agreed to help without alerting the authorities.

Five days later, the then 24-year-old Xu got up at dawn and took the baby to a covered vegetable market in Suzhou. There, he left the girl with a note written in brush and ink: “Our daughter, Jingzhi, was born at 10am on the 24th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, 1995. We have been forced by poverty and affairs of the world to abandon her. Oh, pity the hearts of fathers and mothers far and near! Thank you for saving our little daughter and taking her into your care. If the heavens have feelings, if we are brought together by fate, then let us meet again on the Broken Bridge in Hangzhou on the morning of the Qixi Festival in 10 or 20 years from now.”

Dubbed Chinese Valentine’s Day, the Qixi Festival falls on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar and marks the day when the mythical cowherd and his lover

[Spacetrucker]

Nice story ... goes to show you that (apologies for the cliche) love ALWAYS finds a way.

[Gay State Conservative]

Despite being published in Hong Kong and it being published in English the South China Morning Post is run by the Butchers of Beijing.

[wardaddy]

Interesting but what a pain to read

Reload reload reload

I gave up

[WKUHilltopper]

“...a heavily pregnant...”

As compared to lightly pregnant? . . .

[TXBlair]

That was fascinating. I was disappointed to get to the end and find that the documentary aired months ago; I may have to track it down online.

There’s no telling how many similar stories are out there. Thanks for posting!

[Taylor42]

Next summer we are taking our then 17 year old daughter to China to see the location where she was found. It is a busy avenue and our hopes are a family member will recognize her.

[cherry]

it was not a feel good story....sure, they met their bio dtr but it seemed there was so much tension between the bio parents, the dtr and the parents who adopted her...

[Zhang Fei]

[Next summer we are taking our then 17 year old daughter to China to see the location where she was found. It is a busy avenue and our hopes are a family member will recognize her.]

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Best of luck. I thought the note in the story was a nice touch - prose with characteristics of verse to grab the reader’s attention and simultaneously communicate the intensity of the birth parents’ wish to see their child at later, specific dates. While poignant for the birth parents, it turned out very well for both child and adoptive parents.

[TXBlair]

Agreed. It was kind of surprising to me that the birth parents thought she’d had such a hard life in America because she had a part time job. I wasn’t expecting that.

[TXBlair]

Best wishes! I hope the trip is a success for all involved.

[reed13k]

I was a little surprised with the birth parents trying to force the baba/mama stuff. But was more surprised that the girl said kids call their parents by their first names in the US.

I know maybe 2 families in my entire life that did that and they were pretty messed up.

kinda a bittersweet story.

[miniTAX]

“the girl said kids call their parents by their first names in the US”

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Kids call their parents by their first names in the US’ leftist and messed up families.

[Incorrigible]

Here’s a video about the adopted girl:

https://youtu.be/ru_NI0yTEH8

[mom4melody]

We have two Chinese children.

Our daughter was abandoned in an open air market too, our son outside of a hospital.

[Zhang Fei]

Thanks for the update. Simply amazing.

[Spacetrucker]

Absolutely wonderful! My wife and I got involved in the foster system years ago with the intent of eventually adopting; the adoption happened not too long after - we somewhat considered foreign adoptions but decided to look at home first. WAY too many children are in need out there, good for tu ou.

[vannrox]

China has since ended the limits on how many children a person can have. It is now unlimited. never the less, most Chinese prefer to keep it at two or less simply because it is costly to raise a child. Nice story. I enjoyed it.