Local Story

Finding a Family: Kolyma and Abbi are all American girls. Austin, Texas is home, but they were born in China.

Snow in Shennongjia

Marvellous snowfall in Shennongjia Nature Reserve: Pictures after a snowfall in Shennongjia Nature Reserve in Yichang, central China's Hubei Province. A heavy snow hit the reserve, which is famed for its excellently-preserved geologic structures in the Precambrian time 3.96 billion years ago, high and elegant mountain peaks, limpid spring water and rare animals and plants.

News

China Loses Its Hold on Winter Sports in Asia: China finished in 14th place on the 20th Winter Olympic Games medal tally with two golds, four silvers and five bronzes.

China claims 400M mobile phone users: China's mobile phone market, already the world's biggest, has passed 400 million users.

Two human infections reported in East China: Two people confirmed on Saturday to be infected with bird flu were in critical condition yesterday as agricultural authorities warned of a possible massive outbreak among birds in the country.

China culls 22 million fowls last year to curb bird flu: China culled 22,571,200 fowls in 2005 to curb bird flu, said China's Agriculture Minister Du Qinglin, who also warned the public against a possible massive outbreak of this lethal epidemic.

China in the Olympics

Search begins for new stars: With one gold, one silver and three bronze, China's short- track speed skaters contributed most of the medals for the country at the 2006 Turin Winter Olympic Games, which came to a conclusion yesterday.

China to spend more money on winter sports: Excited with the gains in the Turin Olympics, Chinese officials said here Monday that the country would spend more money to develop winter sports.

The world's moved by China: The most touching moment in Turin 2006 Winter Olympics is not on the high podium for medal winners. Rather, it occurred on the eve of pairs figure skating on Feb. 13. The last duo on that day, Chinese athletes Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao tried to finish an unprecedented throw quad salchow but Zhang Dan failed to stick the landing and injured herself.

Chinese Fabric

eQuilter has a collection of Chinese-themed fabrics for sale.

News

China alert for spring bird flu: China could suffer a "massive" outbreak of bird flu this spring, the Chinese agriculture minister has said.

Beijing Spends Millions in Curbing Spitting: The Beijing municipal administration has recently stepped up efforts to change some people's bad habit of spitting on the ground and will punish those found violating the rules through a high-tech vehicle equipped with monitors.

'Jurassic beaver' found in China: The discovery of a fossil beaver that lived when the dinosaurs ruled the Earth could challenge some currently accepted ideas on mammal evolution.

Forest Coverage Rises: China will work towards to increasing its woodland coverage in 70 percent of the cities nationwide which would mean per capita public land under vegetation reaching eight square meters.

News -- Baby Trafficking

Jail for Chinese baby traffickers: A Chinese orphanage director and nine other people have been given jail sentences for buying and selling dozens of babies who were then adopted abroad.

China jails nine in baby scandal: Prison sentences of up to 15 years were imposed on those convicted of selling babies in Hunan province in southern China. In addition, the former head of one orphanage, the Hengdong Social Welfare Home, was sentenced to one year in prison for buying babies, and 23 local officials were sacked and punished for negligence or involvement in the baby-trafficking scandal.

China Related TV

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

Featured Flickr Photo

Dawodang 2
A total of 20 families live in the Dawodang depression; 60 people all together as one child per family is the maximum allowed in China.
The flat bottom of the depression is littered with rice paddies.

(Courtesy of Rob Millenaar)

A note about the new sponsor

Starting this past week, Photomax is the new sponsor of the China Adoption News weblog. I chose Photomax because (1) I love photography, and (2) Photomax provides great services.

In addition to the ad that I placed in the upper left of the weblog, I will be highlighting a product or service that Photomax provides every Saturday. I hope you find something that is useful!

-- Walter

P.S. Heads Up -- In early March, China Adoption News will host a China-related photo contest. Look for details in a week or so.

Photomax -- Digital Developer

A couple of week ago, I blogged about Photomax and the poster-sized prints you could order from the site. This week, I'm going to highlight something that is unique to Photomax -- the Digital Developer.

The Digital Developer allows you to easily upload your photos from your digital camera to the Photomax website in a matter of moments. Simply plug your digital camera's memory card into the Digital Developer connected to your computer and it will automatically move all your photographs to your Photomax account.

I expect that this would be a particularly good option for (1) those who would like to take and share digital photos, but that aren't particularly comfortable using a computer, and (2) those who want to ensure all of their digital photos are backed up in a secure location, so they aren't lost in the event of a hard drive crash.

If you haven't already, check out the Photomax Registration page, where you will get 20 free 4x6 prints and a free 8x10 for creating an account (as well as 5 Gb of storage for your photos).

For the Lady Bug Enthusiast

Ladybug Set Armoire

News

Fertility drug use booms in China: Wealthy couples in China are turning to fertility drugs in growing numbers, with a report suggesting some may be using it to beat the one child policy.

Guang dropped as surname for Guangzhou orphans: Starting this year, Guangzhou's orphanage has stopped giving its wards the surname "Guang" to prevent them from being identified as orphans.

China to tackle rural problems: China plans to try to rein in the seizures of farmland for development, a key source of unrest in recent months.

Vegetarianism Becomes a Vogue in Chongqing: Nowadays, vegetarianism has become a vogue. With the increasingly prevailing vegetarianism, vegetarians have become a new group who attach equal importance to food and nutrition.

News

East Meets West, Adding Pounds and Peril: May Chen is slender and healthy, a lively little girl whose parents left their rural Chinese village just a decade ago in search of a better life. But at age 9, still in pigtails, she is already coming face to face with the forces that many say are making America fat and diabetic.

China's Changing Economic Balance: Its trade surplus continues to cause friction, but a World Bank report indicates that domestic demand is starting to drive the nation's growth.

China cracking down on junk e-mail: China is cracking down on junk e-mail and "illegal" mobile phone text messages. A new regulation will ban sending e-mail for advertising purposes to people without their permission

Beijing tries to "civilise" residents ahead of Olympics: Beijing will launch a major "civilisation" campaign to target spitting, littering and etiquette in an effort to clean up the city's image ahead of the 2008 Olympics.

Pandas in the Snow

Snow fun for panda pair: Giant pandas Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan play in the Wolong Giant Panda Breeding Center in Southwest China's Sichuan Province.

Featured Flickr Photo

Shang Jia Chong
A very large Karst depression in China's Guizhou province.

(Courtesy of Rob Millenaar)

Ancient City

Discovery of Chinese 'Pompei' Announced: An ancient village which was buried underground more than 2,000 years ago has been unearthed in Neihuang County, central China's Henan Province, Chinese archaeologists announced on Monday.

NPR -- Censorship in China

Hearings to Review Human Rights in China: Google, Yahoo, Cisco and Microsoft will be on the Capitol Hill hot seat for their role in helping the Chinese government monitor and censor the Internet. The House International Relations subcommittee on global human rights will hold hearings Wednesday about high-tech firms doing business in China.

Local Story

Adoption leads to another -- then more: It took thousands of dollars, reams of paperwork and every frequent-flier mile they could muster for Jeff and Lisa Kircik to adopt their two Chinese-born children. But the connection to their daughters' homeland did not end when they returned to their Winter Park home from China with Jenna, 5, and Annalise, 3.

News

Nothing says love like matching nose jobs: China's obsession with plastic surgery is finding fresh demand from couples who are going under the knife to get their noses and even their eyes done as a sign of their love for one another.

Blogger Nation: Wang Xiao Feng hails from northeastern China, a region known for its freezing winters and for its theater, in which performers improvise banter to musical accompaniment. . . . In 2004, a friend introduced him to blogging. Wang was delighted. For the first time since childhood, he got in touch with his inner smart aleck.

Photo of the Day

Plum blossom blanketed in spring snow: A couple enjoy red plum blossoms covered with early spring snow at the Xixi national wetland park in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province. The snow adds charm to the plum blossom and many locals go there to enjoy the beautiful scenery.

NPR -- China's Internet

Getting Past China's Government Firewall: Steve Inskeep talks to Bennett Haselton, an American software developer who has figured out a way for computer users in China to get around the Chinese government's Internet firewall.

Local Story

Doctor to share lessons on adoption in a blog: Dr. Ellen Kempf is getting ready to travel to China for what she calls the "ultimate continuing medical education." And she plans to share the lessons on international adoption that she learns with readers worldwide through the Web. Kempf, a pediatrician who heads the Oak Adoptive Health Center at Akron Children's Hospital, leaves today for a nine-day trip to tour Chinese orphanages. While there, she'll also meet and follow families who are in China to adopt children through Oregon-based Holt International and Family Adoption Consultants of Macedonia. She plans to journal daily about her experiences on a blog that will be posted on the hospital's Web site, www.akronchildrens.org.

China Related TV

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

Featured Flickr Photo

Green Scene
Rice fields everywhere on the valley floor.

(Courtesy of Rob Millenaar)

Slacker

Sorry for the gap in blogging last week. I knew I would be unable to post, but somehow thought I had noted that I would be taking a week break. Anyway, sorry to those who repeatedly returned only to find nothing updated!

China Adoption News is back to its normal programming! . . .

Photomax

Heads Up . . . I don't expect that I'll be posting regularly for the next couple of weeks. Until then, here is something I found that may be of interest to a number of people.

I found a nice site for printing digital prints -- Photomax.com. Their prices are lower than Wal-Mart's photo printing service, plus they have tons more you can order, everything from poster-sized prints (the one shown below -- hanging in our living room -- cost a little over $20), photo-etched jewelry, photo-scanning services, etc.

You can click the button below and it will take you to the free registration page. You get 15 free prints for registering.

What is also attractive about Photomax is that you can earn commissions by referring people. So, this could be a potential fund-raising activity for adoption expenses. Anyway, shoot me a note of you are interested!

News

'Made in China' labels don't tell whole story: Hundreds of workers here at a huge factory owned by the Japanese company Hitachi are fashioning plates of glass and aluminum into shiny computer disks, wrapping them in foil. The products are destined for the United States, where they will arrive like billions of other items, labeled "Made in China."

A 'Single' Church: Despite a serious illness two years ago, Aloysius Jin seems in fine form. He switches continuously between French and English, and cracks a joke about Prince Charles's succession to the British throne ("He's impatient, he's been waiting so many years"). Jin also speaks German, Italian and Latin—languages he mastered while studying theology in Rome in 1949 and 1950, just as the Chinese Communists were taking power in his homeland. Today, Jin, 89, heads the Archdiocese of Shanghai and is a key figure in China's state-sanctioned Catholic Church.

Snow

Auspicious snowfall visits central, eastern China: The first snowfall in the year of dog visits Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province on Feb. 5, creating a cheerful atmosphere in the city. Photo taken on the same day shows local citizens enjoy the auspicious snowfall, which promises a good harvest and a fruitful coming new year in traditional sense.

Local Story

Chinese New Year event popular : The Fox Cities Performing Arts Center was not big enough for the number of families who turned out Sunday for the Chinese New Year's celebration. "We are busting," said Sharyl LaFaive, the event organizer for the Northeast Wisconsin Families with Children from China chapter.

News

China closes more than 2,000 'unhealthy' websites: Chinese regulators closed down more than 2,000 websites last year because they had too much sex, violence or politics, state media reported.

72.7% Chinese feel they are happy: 72.7 percent of Chinese said they are happy. 73.7 percent said they are optimistic about their future life while over 50 percent of those who were unhappy think the main reason for their unhappiness was poverty.

Chinese village anger erupts against police: Protests against Chinese police erupted in the home village of a detained rights activist in Shandong province on Sunday, a week after Premier Wen Jiabao visited the province to promote "harmony" in the countryside.

Pentagon report singles out China as potential military rival: A major review of US military strategy singled out China as the country with the greatest potential to challenge the United States militarily.

AIDS scourge travels fast on ancient Chinese road: This ancient road has had many names: Old tea-horse trail. The Burma Road. Route 320. But the label that matters most today is one that appears on no sign at all: the AIDS road.

Local Story

Families who adopt from China celebrate Year of the Dog: As yesterday afternoon faded into early evening, life inside St. Philip's Church pulsated with the traditional sights, sounds and smells of a Chinese New Year celebration.

China Related TV

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

Featured Flickr Photo

Rice, rice...
Feeding China is serious business.

(Courtesy of Rob Millenaar)

Local Story

Lucky girls, lucky families: Emily Eikenberry, 13, listens to Green Day, eats at McDonald's and plays soccer. She was born in China.

Local Story

International support: Natalie Izant's 3-year-old daughter, Chloe, is at the age where she's starting to ask questions. "She asked me, 'Did I grow in your tummy?'" Izant recalls. "'I said, 'No, you grew in your mommy's tummy in China, but you grew in my heart.'"

Jade

Ancient jade garment on show at National Museum: A 2,000-year-old royal garment made up of more than 4,000 pieces of jade sewn together with gold thread is now on display in China's National Museum. [Another article here.]

Local Story

Northwest Oklahomans adopting from China: Shay, Calla, Hope, Mary, Erin and Jenny attend school, they play sports, go to church and fight with their siblings. And unless someone were to point it out, these dark-haired girls have no reason to believe they are any different than the people around them.

Adoption Statistics

Americans Adopted 7,000 Chinese Children Last Year: According to Mingpao News , American families adopted approximately 7,000 children from Mainland China last year. The USA continues to be the country that adopts the most Chinese-children.

Local Story

Adopting internationally: Paige Keithly saw a segment by TV newswoman Diane Sawyer about adoption from Romania and was hooked.

From Comrade to Citizen

China Moving 'From Comrade to Citizen': China's capitalist economy inevitably affects its Communist politics. Party controls are less stringent and there are glimmers of political diversity. Scholar Merle Goldman discusses political change in China, and her new book, From Comrade to Citizen.