Children in China

A social calamity in China is becoming a social phenomenon in the west. Adopted Chinese girls are appearing in homes, schools and playgrounds all over the U.S. and Europe.

Where did all these girls come from? What are their stories?

Traditionally when Chinese marry, the bride moves into the home of her husband’s parents. Sons remain in the family; daughters marry out. Sons help with the family farm and business, and they also bring in wives to help with the work. Daughters just leave. Sons are the social security system for parents’ old age. The perceived value of boys is higher - as in many other cultures, girls are sometimes regarded as worthless. A negative view of girls is reflected as far back as the poetry of Confucius.

The Communist Party has tried to elevate the position of women, and attitudes towards daughters have changed some, especially in the cities. But centuries of cultural tradition are not easily erased. Girls often begin life by disappointing their families who wanted a son. They continue to endure discrimination as they grow. Once married, they face enormous pressure to bear a son for their husband’s family, and may face severe shame and disgrace if they fail. Rural Chinese women sometimes find their lives unbearably painful. China is the only country in the world where the suicide rates for women are greater than those for men.

This cultural backdrop has now collided with modern China’s family policy. During Mao Zedong’s rule in the mid-1900s, Chinese families were encouraged to have as many children as possible to populate the country with communist revolutionaries and workers. When the government realized it could not feed and control the resulting surge in population, they reversed the policy. Since 1979, families have been instructed by the government to have only one child. In some rural areas two children are allowed, especially if the first is a daughter. But in other places, zealous law-enforcers control when couples have their child, force women to have abortions and sterilizations and charge steep fines, sometimes with other significant persecution, for those who give birth to multiple children.

There are many dark sides to China’s one-child policy. One is that families who are allowed only one child often feel a desperate need for that child to be a son. If they have access to ultrasound technology, they may selectively abort daughters. Baby girls are sometimes killed quietly. Or they are abandoned. That is why there are thousands – perhaps millions – of girls growing up in orphanages. Many of them die as infants, vulnerable from the physical stress of abandonment and shortages in orphanage resources.

There are other long-term, potentially disastrous consequences to the one-child policy. As baby girls have disappeared through abortion, infanticide or abandonment, there is a growing gender imbalance. As sons grow they are finding a shortage of marriageable women. Teenage girls are sometimes kidnapped to provide brides for these men. Some sociologists predict an increase in crime because of the volatile population of single Chinese men.

Our hearts should be open to the cries of babies and children sitting in cribs all over China, and as the Lord leads, we should adopt them into our homes and families, giving them a future and a hope.

Besides adopting Chinese orphans, we can also support Christians in China; as the church grows, so will care for orphans. We can share our belief in the great worth of girls, doing all we can to encourage the Chinese people to cherish their daughters and raise them to adulthood.

The Little Girl (New Earth Publishing 2007) seeks to do this by telling the story of a Chinese man and his adopted daughter. The Little Girl paints a picture of the great value of a girl with a beautiful heart. It will be printed first in English then in Chinese.

Chinese Orphans

Most Chinese orphans are girls, though there are also some boys. The birthmothers tend to care for their babies as much as possible when pregnant. China’s incidence of babies with fetal alcohol syndrome and drug addiction is not as common as in some other countries. Quality of care in the orphanages varies, but many thousands of healthy children have come into adoptive families.

Adoption from China

The Chinese government has created a generally efficient, centralized process for adopting children.

Adoption requires traveling to pick up your child. You will most likely travel in a group with other adoptive families. You will be helped and escorted by a Chinese translator.

China Adoption Threads provides a great amount of helpful information about adoption from China including travel details, vacinations and Chinese culture.

A number of adoption agencies have strong, currently stable relationships with China. There are many support groups for families with adopted Chinese children.

Books about the children of China