March 2001

Jaan Pill and May Jolliffe of Toronto travelled to
China to bring back their baby daughter Lia Luoshang.
Jaan, who can be reached at jpill@interlog.com, wrote this report
for the March 30 to April 12, 2001 trip to China

Our group had families from across Canada, including some on their way to China for a second or third adoption. The group included three grandparents and a great uncle, whose presence added immeasurably to our enjoyment of the trip.

We visited Shanghai (18 million), Nanjing (5.3 million), Yangzhou (4.5 million), and Beijing (13.8 million), staying, in each city, at high-end hotels – the equivalent of 4 star hotels in Canada.

Our most memorable day by far was April 2, 2001, the day our long-awaited babies met us at an orphanage in Yangzhou, and, in the case of 3 year old Grace, at an orphanage in Wuxi. It was such a magical and moving experience to hold our babies in our arms for the first time.

From what we saw, the surroundings and conditions at the orphanages were excellent. From all indications, the children were well-nourished, and had enjoyed many opportunities for play and interaction. We were also impressed with how aptly a government agency in Beijing had matched the babies with their respective parents.

All the children bonded to their adoptive parents very quickly. It was a wonderful experience to travel in China during the weeks that followed. Everyone we met was friendly, helpful, and hospitable toward us. We carried a card that had a Canadian flag and said, in Chinese, "This is our adopted daughter." We always received a thumbs-up gesture and a big smile whenever we showed the card.

We were impressed with the economic development that we saw. Our first contact with China was on the bus ride to our hotel in Shanghai. What we saw was not what we had imagined the country would look like. A remarkable level of economic development has occurred in recent years. It was also fascinating to see the architecture – the backyard gated courtyards in countryside houses, the character-istic Chinese roof style, and the excellent quality of three-dimensional design in both traditional and contemporary buildings. We were inspired by the sense of history that was everywhere.

During our stay, we visited many sites of interest aside from the orphanages – including the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and the Temple of Heaven. To complete the required paperwork, we visited notary offices in Yangzhou and Nanjing, and an international medical clinic in Beijing. We had many opportunities to buy high-quality silk, jade, laquerware and other products. We also shopped at market stalls where we bargained at length to arrive at a mutually agreeable price. 

We saw the view of China that tourists see but we also wandered in the alleyways in Beijing – called hutongs – where bicycles and walking are generally the only means of getting around. The hutongs are a part of China that tourists may not encounter. We were impressed with the peaceful-ness and quietness of the hutongs which was in strong contrast to the high-volume traffic – pedestrians, bicycles, buses and cars – on Beijing streets.

Some of our group ventured out in taxicabs and in bicycle rickshaws. We found that traffic in the cities proceeded according to unspoken rules that everyone but us appeared to know. As in North America, official rules of traffic, such as traffic signals, were sometimes observed and otherwise ignored.

It was wonderful to share experiences with other group members on the tour bus and at our hotels. It was wonderful to observe each passing day the children’s growing bonds with parents. We all very much enjoyed our stay in China. Many of us are looking forward to visiting China again.

We recorded interviews with all the adults in our group. We are collaborating to create a multimedia report on our trip which we'll share among group members. We feel it’s so important for us as the years go by to keep in touch, and to share our memories and news.

We would like to recommend two of the many books that we found helpful before and after our trip.

Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn,
    Baby Minds: Brain-Building Games Your Baby Will Love. Bantam Books, 2000.

Barbara Coloroso,
    Kids Are Worth It! Somerville House, 1995.

Jaan Pill