Orphanage Information

Lotus Tours provides an extensive list of China orphanage addresses.

(Thanks Christine from APC!)

Ethnic Play Dolls

Dolls of All Colors believes that:

Time is precious and we feel that toys should be both fun and developmentally stimulating. We have conducted exhaustive research to locate racially diverse doll makers that have your child's best interest in mind, by designing dolls that will enhance your daughter's creative and imaginative process. Our goal is to provide our customers with a wide selection of dolls that are ethnically correct for their children at affordable prices.

(Thanks Lori from APC!)

Clothing

Meili & Me provides:

a unique line of clothing for little girls blending the beauty and grace of Asian design with the whimsy and playfulness of American denim.

(Thanks Bob on APC!)

Adoption Poetry

Kim Bakos writes adoption poetry, available at this site:

Throughout our two adoptions, I have written poems that convey my feelings at that time—and those feelings varied depending on how the adoption was going, or what milestone prompted the poem. Over the past three years, I have shared those poems with many friends and a few adoption lists. I've been sent requests for copies of the poems, and permission to use them, and have finally taken the advice of one friend and have put together a website to share them with others.

New E-Mail Group

Friends in My Homeland is a new Yahoogroup which:

has been formed in order to allow Western families that have adopted children or are planning to adopt in China to interact with people living in China so that they might learn more about their childrens homeland . Most families want to learn as much as possible. In China there are also many people interested in learning about Western culture and are also interested in conversing with people whose native language is English.

American Express Commercial

If you haven't seen it, you can view the American Express Commecial where an adoptive couple uses miles for their trip to China.

(Select media type and internet connection before playing.)

China Related TV Guide

China Sprout posts a much-appreciated weekly guide for China Related TV listings.

Beautiful China

News

Taking on the Party in Rural China: The trash-filled streets of this township in southwestern China look like those of any other poverty-stricken rural backwater. Farmers bedeck their mud and brick huts with dried red peppers and thresh newly harvested grain in the central square. But last month the town of 10,000 people became a front line in China's battle over political reform. Wei Shengduo, a low-level Communist Party secretary here, made the daring and, as it turned out, risky decision to organize a direct election for the head of the township government, a position that is usually appointed by party bureaucrats.

China cleans up TV ads during mealtime: China's television stations may no longer show commercials for feminine hygiene products, hemorrhoid ointments and other such items during mealtimes.

Plan for Tibet dam sets off protests: A dispute over communist cronyism has erupted in China after the prime minister approved plans to build a dam on a Tibetan holy lake, one of the country's remaining great wildernesses.

Drowning Shows China's Growing Faith in the Courts: While people once dismissed the courts as corrupt and biased, many Chinese now believe that the brand of justice being meted out can be fair and reliable. [New York Times: Requires free registration]

Will begin again tomorrow

I've spent yesterday and today working on some technical issues with this weblog. Normal daily posts will resume tomorrow (Sunday).

Photography

China photography:

is a chinese folk web site on photography. it mainly introduces the photography works on chinese scenery, people and all kinds of chinese folk customs made by chinese photographers. china is such a large country that even our natives are always excited by what we find every now and then. as photography-enthusiasts we will keep exploring the natural beauties and produce more excellent works. through these works people all over the word may have a better understanding of china and much more like china, and also through these works we expect to exchange experiences with photographers abroad so as to improve our photography skill all together.

Learning Chinese in the Pacific Northwest

The Panda Institute provides Chinese language classes in Seattle, Silverdale, and Tacoma.

Thanks Brian from FaithFamily.

Asia Web Portal and Search Engine

Asiaco.com provides a massive Asian web portal and search engine. (Unfortunately, quite a lot of the links do not seem to work.)

(Thanks Bob from APC!)

News

Experts Stress Protection of Beijing: An emperor moved his capital from a remote northeastern area to Beijing 850 years ago, now, 850 years later, people in the capital are facing a dilemma that many other cities face around the globe—the need to safeguard the past while continuing to build the future.

All work and no play in new China: Coming back to Beijing after almost a decade away has been a disorientating experience. The pace of construction has been so frenzied that walking around the city feels like a virtual reality experience - only the street names have stayed the same while everything else has changed.

For Chinese Mothers With a Dream, Hard Knocks: Propelled by his parents' ambitions, Han Weiding, 13, left behind all that he knew in China and decamped this summer with his mother to [Singapore] to go to school. In a cramped apartment, the strapping teenager struggles with English homework. After two months, the television cartoons are still unintelligible, and his ultimate goal of fluent English seems frustratingly far away. His mother, a diminutive, poorly educated woman, remains without a job. [New York Times requires free registration.]

Why We Decided To Adopt From China: Why China? That's the question family, friends, co-workers and Love & Money readers have been asking Amy and me since we announced that we're in the process of adopting a baby girl from China.

Chinese Publisher Censors Clinton Memoir: For weeks, the translation of Hillary Clinton's autobiography has been one of China's hottest books. But some portions of the senator and former first lady's original text have been censored or shortened in the mainland version, and the U.S. publisher is demanding a recall.

Marissa

We are all saddened at the loss of Marissa Faith Miao Burghart.

Here are some links and other information that has been provided by a number of people on various China adoption lists.

Marissa's obituary

The Burghart weblog on Marissa, including guestbook.

Donations directly to the family: A fund has been established in her name, with First Bank of Newton, 128 E. Broadway, Newton, KS 67114 c/o Marissa Faith Miao Burghart.

A news article mentioning a benefit that had been scheduled for Saturday to help with medical expenses.

Memorial donations in honor of Marissa:

1. Half the Sky Foundation—Marissa Burghart Dianbai Orphanage Fund www.halfthesky.org
2. Newton Healthcare Foundation-"Marissa Burghart Art Scholarship Fund" www.nchf.net
3. St.Jude Children's Research Hospital "Memorial and Honor Program—Brain Tumor Research" in Marissa's name, www.stjude.org
4. His Kids Ministries, Inc., Marissa Burghart—Orphan Relief and China Adoption Grant. www.hiskidsadopt.org

Kim requested that no one wear black to Marissa's funeral, saying that Marissa would love it if everyone were to wear purple.

A Great Idea for Fundraising

FCC Change for Children in China Family Fundraising Kit

Join FCC Orphanage Assistance's newest fundraising effort—Change for Children in China, a family fundraising initiative.

We'd like to introduce FCC Orphanage Assistance's newest fundraising effort, Change for Children in China, a family fundraising initiative. Working together, our small contributions add up to create positive and enduring change in the lives of children in China's orphanages while offering families a valuable tool for teaching our children the art of giving.

This is a simple idea:

1. FCC provides the Change for Children in China container.
2. Families fill it with coins and dollars—then return it to FCC.
3. 100 % of these funds go directly to Orphanage Assistance programs helping kids in China.

Here are some ways that you can make this work:

• collect loose change around the house
• sponsor a stoop/garage sale
• sell lemonade or have a bake sale
• collect change instead of candy at Halloween
• walk the neighbor's dog
• have a car wash
• donate a portion of our weekly allowance
• create a show
• participate in a Walkathon / Bikeathon / Yogathon...

Adoption Month Buttons

Rhonda is selling personalized buttons for National Adoption Month (November).

I can also do PHOTO buttons or other simple designs. Please contact me if you're interested. My e-mail address is 120288 @ bellsouth.net (remove the spaces before and after the @)

Each button is $4.00, which includes shipping/handling. I can accept payment via paypal, money order/cashier's check or personal check (with time allowed for check to clear the bank).

Images of the buttons can be found here.

News

Bronze monument unveiled to mark Beijing's 850th anniversary: A bronze monument commemorating the 850th anniversary of Beijing's founding was unveiled on Saturday in the south of China's capital. The monument stands 12 meters high on a site of 760 square meters. The base is made of granite and supports four columns. Four bronze dragons facing east, west, south and north are erected on the base which carries an inscription written by Hou Renzhi, a well-known Chinese historian and geographer, about Beijing's history.

Fossilized skull of Peking Man exhibited in Beijing: A fossilized frontal bone of Peking Man, who lived about 500,000 years ago in what is now Zhoukoudian area of suburban Beijing, went on show Sunday for the first time since its discovery 37 years ago.

Foreigners see social graces and disgraces in China: Chinese manners and customs—or the lack of them—often leave foreigners feeling confused about the Chinese character and what is regarded as social or anti- social behavior.

Bombs kill seven Chinese: At least seven people were killed and 31 injured after three separate bomb blasts rocked China over the weekend, including one at a Carrefour shopping center in central Wuhan city.

China Related TV Guide

China Sprout posts a much-appreciated weekly guide for China Related TV listings.

Archives by Subject

I have decided to categorize some of the weblog entries for easy reference. There is a new addition to the sidebar on the right—By Subject—which has a link to all of the book reviews provided over the months. (Each book entry also includes a quick link to purchase from Amazon.com.)

In later weeks, I may include other categories.

Beautiful China

Spymaster

If you like spending a lot of money on a book, you might want to check out Spymaster: Dai Li and the Chinese Secret Service, which currently sells for $75 at Amazon.com.

The most feared man in China, Dai Li, was chief of Chiang Kai-shek's secret service during World War II. This sweeping biography of "China's Himmler," based on recently opened intelligence archives, traces Dai's rise from obscurity as a rural hooligan and Green Gang blood-brother to commander of the paramilitary units of the Blue Shirts and of the dreaded Military Statistics Bureau: the world's largest spy and counterespionage organization of its time. In addition to exposing the inner workings of the secret police, whose death squads, kidnappings, torture, and omnipresent surveillance terrorized critics of the Nationalist regime, Dai Li's personal story opens a unique window on the clandestine history of China's Republican period. This study uncovers the origins of the Cold War in the interactions of Chinese and American special services operatives who cooperated with Dai Li in the resistance to the Japanese invasion in the 1930s and who laid the groundwork for an ongoing alliance against the Communists during the revolution that followed in the 1940s. Frederic Wakeman Jr. illustrates how the anti-Communist activities Dai Li led altered the balance of power within the Chinese Communist Party, setting the stage for Mao Zedong's rise to supremacy. He reveals a complex and remarkable personality that masked a dark presence in modern China—one that still pervades the secret services on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

It certainly looks interesting. But for $75, I'm not going to find out for myself . . .

News

Beijing Turns 850 in Style: The Beijing municipal government announced plans Thursday to stage a number of activities between September 20 and October 20 for the grand occasion of the 850th anniversary of Beijing as the Chinese capital.

China Races Harry Potter to Stores: The Chinese-language publisher of the latest Harry Potter adventure said Thursday it is rushing the book into stores this weekend ahead of schedule, hoping to thwart pirates who are selling badly translated copies. "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'' will be released Sunday, 10 days before it was due out. People's Literature Publishing House [is[ printing 800,000 copies—a huge number for a Chinese book. [New York Times requires free registration]

Featured Blog

For a pleasant experience in web surfing, visit the incredibly tasteful weblog of Tracie Noles-Ross. Tracie is an accomplished artist who is adopting from China.

Whether you look up in the sky today, tonight or tomorrow, I wish you all a happy Mid-Autumn celebration this year! I intend to look up at the moon and think of loved ones that are no longer with me and those that I have yet to meet! I don't have any mooncakes this year though so I will probably have a moon pie instead and a hot cup of tea and dream of China and and wonder if my daughter can see the moon from where she is tonight.

News

China propaganda art evokes a revolution, now past: Yang Pei Ming has more than 5,000 propaganda posters and believes he has amassed the world's largest collection of Chinese revolutionary art. Asked to pick the most significant example, he picks out a poster from 1952. "Build a New China," Mr. Yang reads, guiding a shaky finger under the Chinese characters that float alongside a garish drawing of Mao Zedong. The late Communist leader towers over a mob of furious workers, which in turn looms over a terrified, portly man in a Western-style begging for his life on a factory floor. "Fight Against Illegal Business People Who Violate the Nation's Development."

U.N. Official Criticizes Education In China : The first U.N. human rights investigator to visit China in nearly a decade delivered an unusually harsh critique of the country's education policies today, blasting the government's ban on religious schooling and a system of arbitrary school fees that forces many families into debt.

China becoming new engine for world economy: China is playing a more important role in global economic development, according to regional and global business leaders and economists at the 2003 Forbes Global CEO Conference, which concluded in Shanghai on Thursday. China's economy has maintained a high growth rate for over 20 consecutive years, bringing about huge business opportunities and injecting energy into the world economy.

China's Great Leap Upward

The October 2003 issue of Scientific American has a feature story on China's attempt to send astronauts into orbit. The full article can be viewed here.

At the Jiuquan Space Center near the edge of the Gobi Desert in northern China, Shenzhou 5 is being readied for launch. The spacecraft—its name means "divine vessel" in Chinese—is nearly nine meters long and weighs almost eight metric tons. Sometime this fall, Shenzhou 5 is scheduled to blast into orbit atop a Chang Zheng ("Long March") rocket. Four earlier Shenzhou spacecraft have already made orbital flights, but unlike those unmanned test vehicles, Shenzhou 5 is expected to carry a crew of up to three young Chinese military pilots. If all goes as planned, China will become the third nation to send people into space.

News

New light on China's decade of chaos: A previously unseen archive of photographs from China's so-called Cultural Revolution is finally being published, 35 years after they were buried for safekeeping. (See also this article.)

China brides bear brunt of violence: Hong Kong's economic ills and a recent fashion for brides from mainland China is fuelling a dramatic rise in domestic violence. The territory's police said that reported acts of violence between couples had risen 40% in a year. The trend also appears to reflect a fundamental clash between traditional Chinese attitudes—where the husband was undisputed master of his household—and younger women's growing awareness of their rights to seek outside help.

Confucius and Mao would frown: China takes to beauty pageants: Last year, police raided a beauty pageant in southern China, shooing a bathing suit-clad contestant off the stage and accusing organizers of breaking the law. But this month Li Tao, a 25-year-old office worker, will see her pretty face splashed on TV screens across the country in a flashy contest of curves in the southern tropical resort of Sanya.

Soybeans and the Amazon

The New York Times ran an article today about increased deforestation of the Amazon jungle in Brazil. What is surprising is that we don't find the usual culprit—beef used for US fast food—at the center stage. Rather, a huge increase in soybean farming is to blame. And the reason for the increased soybean production?

Economists say that the main spur to the soybean boom is the emergence of a middle class in China, much of whose newly disposable income has been spent on a richer, more varied diet. During the past decade, China has been transformed from a net exporter of soybeans to the world's largest importer in some years of whole soybeans as well as oil and meal byproducts.

China: The People's Oppressor

Jeff Lindsay is a neighbor and a good friend of mine. He maintains a massive web page—The Cracked Planet—that covers scores of topics including humor, magic, religion, education, etc.

He has written a page dealing with his views on the Chinese government as well as human rights in China. As you can see from the image above, it is less than favorable and often harsh. But it deals with some important issues and raises valid questions, so is definitely worth checking out.

News

Move over Mao, today's Chinese revolution is sexual: From the dance clubs that line leafy Fuxing Park to the crowded shopping boulevard of Nanjing Road, young people here are doing some extraordinary things in public. Like holding hands. Or hugging. Or even, occasionally, stealing a kiss.

SpongeBob SquarePants in Beijing?: Six months after launching its MTV music channel in south China's affluent Guangdong province, media giant Viacom Inc said on Tuesday it had applied to launch its kids-focused Nickelodeon channel in the country.

Featured Web Page

A Journey to China is a very extensive and well-done China-adoption web page.

Chinese Clip Art

About.com's China Online has a sampling of Chinese Clip Art and Other Images that can be used for personal web pages.

(Thanks Tracy from APC!)

News

For China, Three Gorges is just a start: Energy-thirsty China, already involved in the world's largest hydropower project, will block a river in the southwest for a US$2.9 billion power plant.

As China speeds toward prosperity, babies' 'open-crotch pants' face extinction: With a look of intense concentration on his face, 21-month-old Zhang Xueyang explores the playground, ducking under swings and slides as fast as his legs can carry him. His head is shaved. His red-and-yellow T-shirt proclaims "Cute Girl!" His loose, white-cotton shorts are grimy with dirt. Suddenly, he stops in mid-stride and squats, the seam of his pants parting smoothly to allow a stream of urine to pool onto the concrete. "Good boy!" his 25-year-old mother.

Readers share adoption stories from the heart: Our country has 1.6 million adopted children. The story of two of them was told in P-I reporter Courtnay Peifer's recent series about the trip she and her twin sister took to Korea to find their birth family. We asked readers to share her own stories of searching for birth parents, or sons or daughters who were given up for adoption.

Book Reviews from AdoptiveFamilies.com

AdoptiveFamilies.com has an impressive listing of book reviews in their AF Bookstore.

Travel Tips for People Adopting from China

Everything you'd ever want to know!

News

Shanghai 'sinking' from skyscrapers: China's largest city, Shanghai, is to slash construction of new high-rise buildings to try and stop the city from sinking under the weight of all the concrete and steel.

China reaches a flash point over property rights: At the center of the battle is property, the very issue that put the Communist Party in power 54 years ago with the promise of land for peasants. The Communists soon confiscated the land for collective farming but then redistributed it as communes collapsed. Today, only the state owns the land, but peasants and city residents have rights to own buildings and to lease land.

China trains all-woman, seductive anti-rape squad: An anti-rape squad of female detectives selected for their seductive looks, skill in martial arts and acting ability has been set up by police in China. . . . Part of their job will be to act as the bait—and the trap—for sexual assailants who have plagued the Zhongyuan suburban district.

Beijing Sends In the Masses to Make Tibet More Chinese: Not far from Potala Palace, the hilltop fortress once home to Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and still a symbol of Tibetan culture, the main commercial boulevard here has become a very different symbol, of how Tibet is inexorably becoming more Chinese. [NY Times: requires free registration]

Beautiful China

Happiness Is A Forever Family

Happiness Is A Forever Family began out of our efforts to raise money for the adoption of our son Aaron Jacob (A.J.) Zhong (Chinese name Luo Zhong) from China. We adopted our daughter Emma-Zhi Victoria (Chinese name Jiang Zhi) from China in 2000 and being new at adoptions we went about funding with no experience. This time around we are adding many different fund raising methods to help with the costs of bringing our son home.

Shaohannah's Hope

Shaohannah's Hope is a foundation established by Steven Curtis and Mary Beth Chapman. It is their desire to continue and spread what was started in their family in March of 2000 when they adopted Shaohannah Hope Yan Chapman from a Changde orphanage in China's Hunan province.

Shaohannah's Hope is dedicated to caring for orphans by engaging the church and helping Christian families reduce the financial burden of adoption. We accomplish this by awarding financial adoption grants to qualified families already in the process of adopting.

(Thanks Leni from MAC!)

Adoption Links

Amy has an impressive list of adoption bookmarks!

A 'Village' for Chinese Orphans

NPR's Morning Edition has a feature on the wonderful work of an American family in the orphanages of China.

China's one-child policy often means that parents will abandon any child that is not physically perfect. American aid worker Tim Baker is helping build a "children's village" that takes in unwanted babies and gives them a chance at adoption. NPR's Rob Gifford has Baker's story, the latest in an occasional series on Americans living abroad.

Moon Festival

FamilyCulture.com has a nice site about the August Moon Festival.

The August Moon Festival or Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the most celebrated Chinese holidays. It is held on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month. Chinese families celebrate the end of the harvest season with a big feast. Unlike the American Thanksgiving dinner, the Chinese have mooncakes instead of grandma' apple pie. Friends and relatives also send mooncakes to each other as a way of giving thanks.

(Thanks Teri from APC!)

News

Beijing Planning Second International Airport: Beijing is expected to start building a second international airport in 2010. Beijing's current airport will undergo massive expansion to ready itself for the extra demand created by the 2008 Olympic Games.

US spy secrets 'seen by China': A US spy plane which briefly came under Chinese control following a 1991 mid-air collision probably yielded China classified US information.

Lots of Local Stories!

China's orphan is Pepperell couple's joy: Nineteen months after they decided to adopt a Chinese child, Chestnut Street residents Seth and Debra Durno can now watch their 10-month-old daughter, Myalia Louise Yu-Jie Durno, play in the family room Seth had built in anticipation of her arrival.

Helping to hold up half the sky: A Gilroy father is returning to China, to the place where three and a half years ago he and his wife met and held for the first time their newly adopted daughter. . . . Burke will return to China for two weeks on Oct. 10 with an organization called Half the Sky, which is building preschools for orphanages in Guilin and in another city called Wuzhou.

With adoption final, joys of parenting begin: Joy best describes our home since I returned May 24 with Renell. The trip to China to pick up our adoptive daughter, then 10 months old, was harrowing. I traveled at the height of the SARS scare, and I certainly was glad to be back in the United States.

Two sisters, four adopted children make for one happy Ralston home: Their life may be more hectic and their house not as organized, but two Ralston women wouldn't change a thing when it comes to the past five years. It was almost five years ago when sisters Roberta and Theresa Noah decided they wanted to start a family. Single with no plans of getting married, the two turned to adoption.

Sars outbreak delays adoption: After mowing the lawn and sprucing up the house in advance of her parents' return to the United States and their Independence Township home, 23-year-old Lisa Kowalski hung a sign with Chinese characters she copied from a Chinese calendar. "On the one side, I wrote 'happiness,' and, on the other side, I wrote, 'together,' " she told her aunts and uncles Thursday.

Lambeth couple can't wait for Christmas: Two years ago, Craig and Kim Jones received the best Christmas gift they could ever wished for—the first pictures of their baby girl. Four weeks later, the Lambeth couple flew to China to bring the baby in those photos home. Now, they are waiting for pictures of the second Chinese baby to become the next member of their family.

Source for SARS News

Yahoo News Asia has a page devoted to SARS news and includes a discussion board about the subject.

Moonbeams

Check out all of the September 2002 DTC referral pictures on the Moonbeams page. You'll set lots of beautiful children. (The referral page does plays music, so keep the sound down if you're at work!)

Adoption Book

Little Miss Ladybug And Her Magical Red Thread "is a beautifully illustrated storybook which introduces the world of adoption to a young child. It's gentle, and loving approach captures the imagination as the little miss ladybug follows her red thread bringing together the loving parents with their waiting baby."

DTC Websites and Discussion Groups

Bob from APC reminds us that: All the known DTC websites and DTC discussion groups are listed and linked on China Connection's website at the page:

http://www.chinaconnectiononline.com/DTCsites.htm

Teaching Diversity

In the article, "Breaking the Cycle: How to teach your kids to respect and celebrate race, culture and family formation," Dr. Ted Horowitz provides a Top 10 List we can give to educators and other adults that will help break the chains of bias that begin to harden so early.

(Thanks Susan from PAC!)

SARS Update

Researcher probably caught SARS in lab: A 27-year-old researcher confirmed by Singapore officials as being the country's first Sars case in four months probably caught the disease while working in a laboratory that is investigating the virus. 'The single case is an isolated case. There is no person-to-person transmission. So there is no outbreak... There is no danger to public health,' Singapore's Minister of State for Health Balaji Sadasivan said in an interview with The Associated Press in the Philippines.

Little Dog

Little Dog and Duncan and Little Dog Poems are two children's books written by Kristine O'Connell George and illustrated in water color by June Otani. Each book has about 40 poems and features a beautiful little Asian girl as the owner of the dogs. Here is one of the poems:

Birthday
Only someone
who loves Little Dog
very much
would bake
birthday cookies with
liver powder.

(Thanks Jen on PAC!)

What time is it in China?

You can find all sorts of date and time utilities at www.timeanddate.com. Want to know what time it is in Beijing? No problem. You can also do things like count down the time to a particular date (such as your trip to China!). Mark your calendars, my birthday is in 206 days!

(Via the RCC e-mail list)

News

Miss Taiwan is not interested in Chinese pageant: China is inviting Taiwanese women to compete in its Miss China beauty pageant, but the nation's top beauties aren't interested in the contest, which requires them to "passionately love the motherland" and "support the Communist Party."

China factory output surges: Chinese factory output jumped by almost a fifth in August and grew at its fastest rate in five months, feeding an insatiable export engine and fueling fears that the economy may be overheating.

Beijing on high alert over SARS: Beijing's health, quarantine and transport departments are maintaining a level of high alert following the discovery of a new SARS case in Singapore. Travelers arriving in China from Singapore—as well as Hong Kong and Taipei—will have to undergo temperature tests and fill out special health forms.

At least 250,000 Chinese Commit Suicide Every Year: According to statistics, at least 2 million Chinese commit an attempted suicide every year, that is, one person dies of suicide and eight do an attempted suicide in every two minutes. The average age of the suicide persons is 32 years old. The mentally retarded persons, those suffering from bad marriage and the poor are the top three groups of people who are most possible to commit suicide.

SARS News

Singapore Confirms New SARS Case; WHO Has Doubts: Singapore said on Tuesday tests had shown a 27-year-old medical researcher had SARS in what could be the world's first case since a global outbreak was declared over in July. But the World Health Organization said the case did not fit the WHO definition of the disease under its new guidelines and would not pose a public health emergency.

See also the Singapore Government Press Release

Orphanage Website

The ChongQing Children's Welfare Institution webpage is full of great information and pictures!

News

Shenzhen bans lucrative trade in human body parts: The southern Chinese city of Shenzhen has banned the trade in human organs and tightened rules on donations and transplants, amid growing concerns of a thriving illegal business in selling body parts. The new regulations follow allegations by human rights groups that foreign patients are receiving organs removed involuntarily from executed Chinese prisoners. Chinese officials have fiercely denied these charges.

Migrant Workers in Beijing: "Mingong" or migrant workers may perform vital tasks, but that doesn’t make them more popular. Dressed often in ragged or dirty clothes, carrying huge bags and speaking in distant dialec they suffer rather than are welcomed in the capital.

China helping handicapped people achieve equal rights: The Chinese government is working hard to help the country's handicapped population achieve the goal of "equality, participation and sharing" and to enjoy as affluent a life as others.

Pearls

During my last trip to China, I bought pearls for the first time. I had never been interested in pearls, but a Chinese-American co-worker told me that you could get them in China for a great price. I have since developed a deep appreciation for the beauty of pearls.

If you are interested in learning about pearls, I highly recommend the Pearl Buying Guide. It is full of stunning color pictures (on thick, glossy paper), practical advice, and covers such topics as color, surface perfection, size and weight, pearl treatments, clasps, etc.

While I was pleased with my pearl purchases from China, I would have had a much different perspective had I read this book before the trip.

Vintage Chinese Posters

Zitanique, mentioned in the entry below, also has a large collection of 1930s Shanghai Advertising Posters, Cultural Revolution Memorabilia, and Other Chinese Political Propaganda Posters.

(Via J-Walk)

Classical Chinese Furniture

Zitantique, a division of West Coast Trading Group,

specializes in classical Chinese fusion furniture and bespoke joinery made from zitan wood, an extremely rare and valuable tropical hardwood, previously thought to be extinct.

News

China says SARS may return in winter: China has called on doctors and citizens to take precautions against influenza this winter when the flu-like SARS virus could return.

Don't Blame China for U.S. Job Losses: Rather than looking to blame China for the loss of its old-line manufacturing industries, the U.S. needs to start focusing more on its own extraordinary strengths in technology and innovation to create new jobs.

China Renews Fight Against Falun Gong: In a lengthy commentary carried late Sunday night on the official Xinhua News Agency, authorities called for a "fight until the end" against Falun Gong, which has repeatedly angered the government in recent months by hacking into Chinese television satellite signals and broadcasting its own messages.

China Related TV Guide

China Sprout posts a much-appreciated weekly guide for China Related TV listings.

Beautiful China

Race--The Power of an Illusion

An article entitled, "A Long History of Racial Preferences—For Whites" can be found at this link (pdf file).

Many middle-class white people, especially those of us who grew up in the suburbs, like to think that we got to where we are today by virtue of our merit—hard work, intelligence, pluck, and maybe a little luck. And while we may be sympathetic to the plight of others, we close down when we hear the words "affirmative action" or "racial preferences." We worked hard, we made it on our own, the thinking goes, why don't 'they'? After all, it's been almost 40 years now since the Civil Rights Act was passed.

You can find more information at the PBS site Race—The Power of an Illusion.

(Thanks asa from PAC.)

New Video

Chana from APC gives us the following heads-up:

Dr. Changfu Chang, of Millersville University of Pennsylvania, has produced and directed a new video on China adoption entitled "My Unforgotten Daughter." For those of you new to Dr. Chang's work, he also produced a video entitled "Love without Boundaries," which also concerns China adoption. Both videos are wonderful! "Love without Boundaries" is more general in nature, while "My Unforgotten Daughter" concerns one family's unique experience in bringing their daughter (an older child at the time of her adoption) home.

More information can be found at Dr. Chang's website.

News

Livelihoods blown away: Each year for the last few years, the winds of March or April bring the desert to Beijing. No ordinary storms, these sun-darkening blasts shift and deposit millions of tonnes of sand across the city, into Tianjin and onwards, over the water to the Korean Peninsula and Japan. The dust storms, know in China as 'Yellow Dragons' have been increasing in frequency over the last decades.

China Reducing Pollution Ahead of Olympics: China's Olympic organizers are ordering "polluting enterprises'" in central Beijing to either renovate or move out of the area in preparation for the 2008 Summer Games. (NYT: Requires free registration)

After the Flood: Since the end of imperial rule nearly a century ago, Chinese leaders of all kinds—democrats and dictators, Nationalists and Communists, technocrats and dreamers—have shared a single, colossal engineering ambition: to dam the mighty Yangtze River. [This article links to a black and white slideshow] (NYT requires a free registration)

Chinese Researchers Confirm SARS Came from Animals : Genetic testing of animals sold as delicacies in a southern Chinese market confirms suspicions that the deadly SARS virus jumped from animals to people.

Homeland Children's Foundation

Homeland Children's Foundation was begun in 2000 by adoptive parents and their Chinese colleagues. The Foundation's purpose is to provide education, aid, and supplies to children who will remain in China's orphanages, and cultural support to children who were adopted form China.

Check out their webpage.

Adoption Store for Children

An Incredible Journey has sibling travel journals, coloring books and other fun gifts for children who travel or await a sibling at home.

Book Recommendation

Carolyn from APC gives a thumbs up for Culture Smart China: A Quick Guide to Customs and Ettiquette.

I found "Culture Smart! China" to be very informative. It's a small book (4 1/4" X 6 1/2 ") so I can carry it around with me easily. It gives a condensed history of China as well as general attitudes of the people there and what to expect so your culture shock isn't overwhleming.

Adoption Benefits at Work

If your employer does not provide adoption benefits, and you would like to change that, here are a couple of links that will get you started.

www.adoptionworkplace.org

www.adoptlink.com/benefits.htm

China Links

ChinaSite.com provides a massive listing of China-related links.

(Thanks Jean!)

News

Blaming Beijing: Unemployment in America is high, and elections are on the horizon. It must be time to look east again for scapegoats. Japan is only starting to recover from its protracted recession, so China will be handed the role of economic villain in the coming election cycle. Expect to hear a chorus of presidential candidates blame unfair Chinese competition for the nation's manufacturing woes. (NYT: Requires free registration)

Converting China to taste of coffee: Though tea is cheap and coffee is expensive in China, it is the latter that is becoming more popular.

Typhoon Kills 20 in Southern China: Typhoon Dujuan slammed into the southern Chinese coastal city of Shenzhen, killing at least 20 people and causing extensive damage to parts of the country's showcase economic development zone. The report said the damage was the worst to the region since 1979.

China blasted over AIDS spread: The spread of AIDS in China is running largely unchecked with patients denied treatment and authorities not dealing with a blood collection scandal that led to millions of HIV infections. (Read the Human Rights Watch report here.)

Images in Stone

Stone Reflections can turn your photographs into beautiful granite etchings.

Imagine your favorite photo transformed into a unique treasure, almost as special and loved as the person or pet in the picture. Each Stone-Reflection is individually crafted by artisans who work from your photograph, so each stone is one of a kind made just for you.

Documentary

China in the Red: It is a nation struggling to redefine itself. This is the story of the human face, and human costs, of the transformation—and of ordinary people living in extraordinary times.

View the entire documentary at PBS.org.

(Thanks Kirby!)

Tragic News

A wall of water from a flash flood crashed over a section of I-35 during torrential rains late Saturday, sweeping seven cars off the road and killing four children of a Liberty, Mo., family.

Killed in the flood were Makenah Rogers, Zachary Rogers, Nicholas Rogers, and Alenah Rogers. They were the children of Robert and Melissa Rogers of Liberty. Makenah was 8 years old. Zachary was about 5, Nicholas was about 3 and Alenah about 2. Alenah had been adopted from China a few months ago, according to a friend of the family. Melissa Rogers was missing, but Robert Rogers survived.

Related Articles:

Search continues for missing mother

Two more missing after raging creek sweeps cars off I-35

Church mourns lost children

4 Kids Die in Kansas Flood; Mom Missing

China Related TV Guide

China Sprout posts a much-appreciated weekly guide for China Related TV listings.

Book Review

I consider Chinese for Today one of the poorer Chinese language texts on the market. There is very little I can recommend about this book. It is an introductory text, but the first lesson introduces words like Lu3you2ju2 (the Tourist Bureau) that are not only difficult for the beginner to pronounce, but also aren't necessarily considered essential introductory vocabulary. Rather than teaching the language from the ground up, each chapter focuses on specific situations, such as "Welcome," "Introduction," "Looking for Someone," "To the Post Office," etc. While this may be handy as a language travel guide, it is not conducive to effective language acquisition. The end result is frustration on the part of the student. Avoid this book if you can.

I rate it: Two Stars out of Five.

News

Editorial—Pressuring China on human rights: Fighting forced abortion in China is one foreign-policy area in which progress has been made since George W. Bush became president. Last year, the Bush administration halted $34 million in funding for the United Nations Population Fund because of its connection to China's one child per family and forced sterlization policies.

China Plans to Eradicate Poverty of 28 Million Rural People: By the year 2010, the central government plans to have completed its envisioned goal of improving the lives of about 28 million rural people who currently live in extreme poverty, without adequate food or clothing.