We then proceeded to dinner in town. We were joined by the vice mayor of Yangchun. There were many “ganbei’s” during dinner with shotglasses of cognac. It seems that, as in America, the politicians really know how to drink. After a nice meal, we headed back out to the factory to watch a fireworks shoot. Our evening did not end until almost midnight.

We had expected to visit the orphanage the following morning. It’s amazing how fast plans can change in China. As I was in the bathroom drying my hair at about 7:30AM, Pat came in to tell me that Mrs. Yu was in the other room! She was trying to tell us something, but of course, we couldn’t understand her. We showed her the album with the new photos of Bailee we had brought for her. She really enjoyed looking at all the photos, some of them making her laugh out loud.

We called the Hong Kong broker who was in town to show us fireworks that night to translate for us. Mrs. Yu explained to her that there was some kind of meeting taking place at the orphanage that morning, and we could not visit until afternoon. Since we already had appointments set up for the afternoon, we arranged to visit the next morning. She was very happy about this since it was Saturday and it would not be busy. She is intrigued by our internet site, and is glad that we are making the attempt to keep the children connected, so she welcomed to our visit.

Mrs. Yu sat with us while we had breakfast. It was at this time that we presented her with the box of photos everyone sent me. She was just thrilled with them. It was very obvious from her expression while looking through them that she loved all the children very much. She seemed genuinely overwhelmed by it all, almost to the point of tears. It was amazing to me that she remembered almost all of the children by name, even ones she had not seen for a couple of years. I did notice that she cannot read the pinyin of the children’s names on the back of the photos, so using a chop or the chinese characters is very important for her to be able to clearly identify the children.

We were able to ask her a few questions during this meeting. One thing that I was very curious of was if there was a note, or any belongings left with our daughter when she was found. Hong Ying told us there had been a note left with Bailee, but they threw it out because it was dirty and torn. I explained to her how important things like that are to adoptive parents because it is a small link to their children's birth. She then said that anything left with the children, including the clothes they are wearing are destroyed. In this way, all links with the past are severed. This seemed to be very important to her. I have been told by another Yangchun mother that some members of her travel group did receive things left with their daughters. This group traveled before Mrs. Yu became the director, so maybe this is her personal rule.

I also ask how our daughter’s name was chosen. Hong Ying explained that they go through the dictionary and pick a number of names that they like. These are put on a list, and as the children arrive at the orphanage, they are given the name at the top of the list.

I questioned how many children are at the orphanage. She said approximately 100 babies are usually living in the orphanage. I ask if there are older children. She said there were no children over two in the orphanage. This seemed unusual. Last year when we received Bailee, they were delivering a child to her parents in Guangzhou--she appeared to be about two and a half to three years old. When we toured the orphanage, we saw no older children, and it appeared we saw about 100 children, so I’m not sure what the truth is. Maybe the older children are placed into foster care. She did tell us that most of the children are adopted...the majority to America. There are also a number of the children who are adopted by families in Yangchun. Since Hong Ying stated that there were no older children, I didn’t question her about identified adoptions of older children from the orphanage, or what our families could do to help these children. Maybe as we build up our relationship with her, she will be a bit more forthcoming and we can learn the answers to these questions. (Note: since returning home, in visiting with an adoption agency worker in America, I have learned that the older children are in foster homes.)

I ask her if there was a way for families to donate directly to the orphanage. She said she could give me the bank information to wire the money to Yangchun. Our fireworks broker was fairly uncomfortable with this scenario. She worried if the money would go were it was intended. I know we will be going to China annually for the foreseeable future, although we will not go to Yangchun every year, I feel sure that Hong Ying would meet us in Guangzhou to pick up photos of children and any donation we collected for the orphanage. So, until we can devise a better system, I’m more than happy to serve as the courier service for anyone who wishes.

After breakfast, we stopped at the I/E Corporation’s main office to look at their basket samples. We really wanted to try to buy a container of something from Yangchun to help the town (the fireworks broker from Hong Kong told us that Yangchun is not a prosperous town). Then we returned to the fireworks factory to visit their showroom there and discuss the items we tested the previous evening. A few people sent me the locations where their daughters were found, hoping to get a photo. On our way back to town, we looked for these spots and took the photos that we could.

We had a quick lunch, then loaded the van again to visit a second fireworks factory with our Hong Kong broker. This factory is co-owned by the Hong Kong broker and a man from Australia. It is very state of the art for China. Pat & I had visited this factory last year after we received Bailee. This is the place where the women, when they learned we were adopting Bailee, had all started chattering and one ran off and came back with a baby. It seems this baby had been left at the gate of the factory as a newborn. The Australian decided to adopt her. A woman at the factory has been caring for the child while he worked on the adoption. After our visit, we contacted the Australian and let him know if he was unable to complete the adoption, we would like to try to add the little girl to our family. Although she has been in his family's hearts for over a year; they have determined it will be impossible for them to adopt her due to the laws of their country. So, we are hastily preparing a dossier, hoping to bring her home quickly. This is obviously a very unusual situation, and there is no guarantee it will work out, but we are hoping for the best! Pat and I both felt a deep connection to this little girl...maybe it’s that famous red thread at work. (UPDATE! This little girl is now our daughter Sammie. We returned to Yangchun in October 1999 to make her a member of our family.)

After the factory visit, it was back to town for another formal Chinese banquet, but no government officials on this night. Then back in the vans for a ride to the countryside and another fireworks shoot. We first went to a location that was a beautiful spot along the river. The river is very important to the town, several people live on the river in their boats. These families used to be primarily fishermen, but many of them now dredge the river for sand to sell to people in town. In fact, it is possible to travel to Yangchun by boat. The Hong Kong broker takes a jetfoil from Hong Kong to Jiangmen, and then another boat to Yangchun.

The factory had everything set up with tables, chairs, lights, etc. for the test shoot. We watched about three items, and then this very elderly man showed up and started screaming. It seems that we were interrupting prime baby bird trapping season, thus negatively impacting his livelihood. The locals told us that once the rice has been harvested, the birds flock to the fields to finish off what is left. They trap these small field finches to be used in those dishes where the entire bird is eaten whole. The farmer was very, very distressed. After much screaming, hand waving and chinese swear words, it was determined that we should move our shoot.

So everyone packed up, the trucks were reloaded with the fireworks and we went back into town to the other side to finish up. This ended up being a lot of fun as the children flocked from the surrounding houses to watch the show. As you can see from the photo, they had a very good time.

It was once again nearly midnight before we got back to the Golden Roc. Mrs. Yu was to pick us up at 8 AM to visit the orphanage.

When we got to the lobby in the morning, Hong Ying was there waiting. Heading for the orphanage, I still wasn’t sure if we would be allowed in the building, or just on the grounds. As we approached the front gate of the welfare compound, the chickens were still loose in the yard next to the gate. The first thing that struck me was the change in the original orphanage building. It has been totally refurbished on the exterior, it is now the same white tile as the new building. I can’t speak for the interior as we did not visit this building since it is used to house the elderly.

Hong Ying walked us right past the old building to the front door of the new building. The first thing I noticed was the laundry hanging on the balconies of the upper floors. And two bamboo baskets full of diapers outside the front door. I know the orphanage gift is going to come in so handy! The auntie who brought Bailee to the Golden Roc last year was at the door to greet us. She was all dressed up in a dress and high heels (the other aunties had on regular work clothes). It was very special to see her again.

Our first stop was Mrs. Yu’s office. It is located right inside the main entrance. Lisa McClure had heard that she kept photos of the children on her wall. As you can see from the photo, this is true. She also has a few photos under the glass on her desk. While we were in the office, she gave me some more photos of Bailee taken while she was in the orphanage. I got the feeling that they take photos of the babies quite often. She told me she has more of Bailee somewhere and that she’d send them to me when she finds them. It would be worth your time to drop her a note, send her a current photo and ask if there are any pictures of your child while in the orphanage. Just be sure to enclose a self-addressed envelope.

The only other office on this floor was the doctor’s office. He was in the office, so we snapped his picture. Also the “hospital-type treatment” bed. As we were leaving there were two babies on this bed getting IV’s administered. They looked very young, close to newborns. In the hallway outside the doctor’s office was a large scale.

Each floor has a very wide foyer, with a large center staircase. We climbed up to the second floor. The stairs had a safety gate across the opening and there were several babies in walkers milling about the foyer in the sunlight. The second floor seemed to have mostly younger babies living on it. From the foyer, there were two long hallways running in opposite directions. There were five or six small rooms off each of the hallways. Each room held six to eight cribs. All the babies had their own crib. Some babies were sleeping, some sitting up playing, some out in the walkers. Hardly any babies were crying. Each room had a large window which was opened and allowed sunlight into the room. The cribs were lavender or light blue colored metal. The babies lay on a piece of plywood with numerous blankets. We saw a couple of babies who were less than one month old. There was a refrigerator in the corner of the foyer and a room right off the foyer with hot water, bottle sterilizers and many cans of formula.

The third floor had the same layout, but the children were older and more mobile. Several were out in walkers, and some were walking up and down the halls. There were only six cribs per room on this floor. The babies all seemed content and happy. They are obviously loved and well cared for. The aunties were all cheerful and were interacting with the children in various ways.

We never saw the old orphanage, but as you can see from this photo of Bailee, there was one very large room with numerous cribs placed end to end in long rows. The babies could easily play with their neighbors, but germs and viruses could spread very quickly as opposed to the smaller, less populated rooms in the new building. We did learn that the babies were moved to the new building during January 1998.

We were able to meet ten of the aunties and take their photos and get their names. I don’t think we missed many of them. I seem to recall being told last year that there were approximately twelve aunties.

Our visit in the orphanage was VERY brief. We weren’t in the building for more than 15 minutes. Mrs. Yu really hustled us through. But I’m thankful for every bit of information we were able to get. Pat was running the camcorder, but he was afraid to be too obvious, so he held the camera down at his side. Needless to say, 90% of the video is pretty lousy. I was concentrating on taking the still pictures since they were the most important to me. Since we were being hurried through, I didn’t worry about the video. If we ever get the chance to go back, I’ll try to get some good video footage.

Hong Ying traveled back with us to Guangzhou right after our visit. We stopped in Foshan (a town about 30 minutes outside of Guangzhou). This is where we bought the gift for the orphanage. She wanted a commercial size dryer. The one she selected can handle 100 lbs. of clothing at one time! It is probably eight foot tall and nearly as deep. They wanted $20,000 RMB for the dryer and $2,150 RMB to crate it and deliver it to Yangchun. This totaled $2,735 USD.

The manager was willing to give us a 5% discount. I said how about 10%! After much discussion back and forth, with Hong Ying waving the certificate with all the names of those who donated, the manager agreed to the 10% discount for "all the children." So the cost ended up being $2,460 USD. Hong Ying paid them $5,000RMB downpayment using orphanage funds, with the balance to be paid when the dryer is delivered. We had given Mrs. Yu $2,000 USD to apply to the cost earlier in the day, so the orphanage only had to pay $460 USD out of their funds. I think it will be very handy for them. When we visited, there were piles of diapers everywhere! Hopefully the dryer will save the aunties a lot of time, and allow more time to cuddle babies. Mrs. Yu was very thankful for the generousity of the families who contributed to this gift.

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