Chinese Fascination

I think the first time I ever recall learning about Americans adopting Chinese children I was 12 years old. Family friends had recently adopted a young girl around two years old and asked me to babysit her. She was named Stephanie, and from that pivotal point of seventh grade money-making on, I was fascinated with young Asian children adopted by Caucasians.

I will admit being half-Chinese may have added to the initial fascination of Chinese children. Growing up with my mom's entire family 100 percent Chinese, I was continually immersed in the Chinatown culture found in southern California. Walking into a restaurant where 90 percent of the patrons and 100 percent of the waitstaff were Chinese, I had no other option than to acclimate myself to the Chinese culture in efforts to fit in.

Menus were scribed in half Chinese and half English, and my Chinese grandparents would order food speaking their native language I knew virtually nothing about. Young children would bang chopsticks on white plates, and most all of these children were of Chinese descent. Even I was once a child eagerly grasping my chopsticks in an effort to shovel chow mein into my mouth.

This Chinese upbringing may have dwindled somewhat when I moved to Colorado, but nonetheless it was still prevalent during yearly trips to Southern California. My exposure to Chinese children continued when my aunt married a Chinese man and they bore two beautiful boys, now 7 and 10.

When I learned of Americans adopting children from China, primarily girls (approximately 95 percent- courtesy of Great Wall China Adoption), I was led to a deeper fascination of the opportunity at life these children are given. I would love to give a young Chinese child the opportunity at life, while continuing to strengthen mine and their cultural background.