All Stories (43 total)

Three days later, after she had been taken to the Chenzhou Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau, the umbilical cord dropped off and her birthdate was…

Z Watts talked with Our China Stories in 2026.Z grew up in Austin, moved to Boston and earned an MFA. Today, Z lives in Colorado, where they began…

I am the adoptive mother of a Chinese son and I worked for a decade in Hunan Province as a volunteer with a Christian NGO. In early 2016, a Chinese…

Timothy Tian Bao Estes was born with a heart condition. This is the story he remembers about how he came to live in the Luoyang orphanage in Henan…

Lan was born and raised in China. The girls are her adoptive daughters. Brian is a Utah native. Together, Lan and Brian help other parents of adopted…

I am adopted from China, and I have always had a dream to go there and visit the orphanage I spent the first 10 months of my life at. I am 13 years…

Sarah Heath, 27, grew up in Nashville, Tennessee. Celena Kopinski, 27, grew up in New York City. They never knew of each other until a chance…

Kai, 7, and Zoe and Grace, twin 9-year-old sisters, make up the heart and soul of the Purtell household of San Antonio, Texas. Kai has had 12…

Hello! My name is Parrie Liu and I am a college student in north Texas. Currently, I am studying biology and I want to be a pediatric radiologist.…

Nora, 13, from Austin, Texas, talked with Our China Stories about celebrating her 8th birthday in China: People would just come up to me and just…

Naomi AKA 王吉红 was 9 months old when she came home from Shanghai to a bucolic coastal village in the south of England. Now, 20, she is studying…

Hello! My full name is Bai Yi Min (白宜 民） Mershon Blasek Foxweldon and I am almost 25 years old. I've a long story with my name, as it is long. The…

Lucy spoke with Our China Stories most recently in 2026....Here is what the Berry family shared about themselves a decade ago, when they first talked…

Hi, my name is Lily. I am nine years old and I live in Michigan. I have two big brothers, one younger step brother, one older step sister. My family…

I haven't really thought much about my Chinese history, maybe because I don't need to think about it in my present-day life, but also because it's…

I was adopted from Guilin, China when I was 11 months old by my mom, who decided she wanted a baby even though she wasn’t married. My aunt, Jean,…

Shame is applying for a visa home, or not knowing how to write your name  The passport office is small & getting smaller with each stroke I try to…

Li Shaofang was 3 months old when her mother arranged her informal adoption by a childless couple in a neighboring village. Her mother was ill and…

Li Hua talked with Our China Stories in 2026....Here is what Li Hua wrote about herself a decade ago, when she first talked with Our China…

I am 10 years old and I am in 3rd grade. I am happy to be adopted.

I have two moms, two dads, two sisters and one brother! Four of them live in…

“Where were you born? What time were you born? Do you have a family history of (some allergy or disease)?” These are seemingly simple questions, but…

Last year I was doing Annie. And there are lots of orphans and I wanted to audition for Tessie. I think she was like 10 years old, or 11, and I…

Hello! My name is Jian Rzeszewicz and I'm just a simple 20-year- old college student in the rainy state of Washington trying to find her niche in the…

Now 12, Jencie was 5 when her parents adopted Juliann, an experience she calls `cool` though also a learning experience in sharing. `I think it was a…

Jeanette Lowery talked with Our China Stories in 2026.Jeanette was about to have her second child when she graciously took some time to catch up. She…

Helena, 15, grew up with a rural family in Heilongjiang Province, in northeastern China - until the day they took her to the local orphanage. She was…

Haven, 18, grew up in Chula Vista, California, about eight miles north of the border with Mexico. She was adopted in 2002 at just under a year old…

My name is Hannah Weaver. I was born in Foshan City, Guangdong Province, and adopted at the age of 13 months. I am currently a high school sophomore…