Sichuan Earthquake Update
Help the Earthquake Children to Recover
Article: Chinese eager to adopt quake orphans
Friday, May 23rd, 2008(The information for MBL from FanWu in USA.)
Chinese eager to adopt quake orphans By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN and CARA ANNA, Associated Press Writers
The children’s faces stare in somber black-and-white photos from newspapers and scribbled posters at relief camps, seeking their parents. Many will never find them.
As the first estimate of orphans - more than 4,000 - emerged Thursday from last week’s deadly earthquake, thousands of Chinese are rushing to offer their homes. “My husband and I would really like to adopt an earthquake orphan (0-3 years old),” Wang Liqin wrote on popular Web site Tianya.com in a forum that was already three pages long.
The high interest is another sign of China’s tremendous post-quake outpouring of sympathy, buoyed by rising prosperity. And it’s a surprising turnabout in a country in which government red-tape, poverty and traditional attitudes long combined to discourage adoption.
The new enthusiasm also means that Americans and other foreigners wanting to adopt may not have a chance. Officials estimate that the number of Chinese wanting to adopt the earthquake’s orphans may outnumber the orphans themselves.
