One of the Big Things about adoption - especially with kids from Social Welfare Institutes in China - is the need to promote attachment. They call it "bonding," which has a nice, solid construction/oath-taking sound to it. And one of the best ways to do this is to leave behind the bulky old stroller and tote a new tot around in a sling.

Bonding, you see, is fun. Slings are a great invention, because they let you hug little children for long periods of time while still leaving your arms free... more

On the one hand, China is embracing Americana in some fairly strange ways, as exemplified by Shijingshan Amusement Park. It's a Disneyland that isn't. "NO, no, that character is not Mickey Mouse!" they say. "That's a cat with large ears!! And many ducks wear sailor suits! Not just... that duck!" As far as I... more

The Been-There-Done-That families are no doubt happily forgetting about all the paperwork that goes into the wacky process of adopting from China -- especially the paperwork you have to wait for from the US government. (That's assuming some of the people reading this are Americans and not our noble friends to the north or those... Europeans, who have arcane bureaucracies of their own.) Some have suggested renaming this the WOO! BABY!" form, which would be easier to remember, if nothing else.... more

Fenghuang statue, Nanning, Guangxi.

This male phoenix has returned to his old home, from roaming the four seas searching for his mate. Time was not yet ripe, there was no way to meet her; then what a surprise: this evening I come up to this hall, and there's a dazzling maiden in the women's quarters. The room near but she far: this poisons my guts. ... more

By the way, it's Labor Day in China -- the communist holiday based on American history.

I hope all the traveling families (and everyone else in China) are enjoying all the parades and time off work.

"Yīgè Dàyuè Wèile Fán Réndào" means "One Great Leap For All Mankind."

If the world had worked a little differently and the gorgeous children who are now my daughter and son had stayed in China, they would one day have faced a terrifying thing: the Chinese math test. That's a link from the... more

As Mo recently pointed out, adoption never ends. The paperwork gets finished, and one day the kids grow up and leave home, but the process is never done. It'll last long after the parents are gone.

This endless process - the fitting in, the explaining, the looking for a place -- was the subject of a recent ... more

A boy and his globe, Topaz, Utah, 1943

So, there is becoming more and more like here every single day. Check out these signs of a burgeoning monoculture:

After pulling off their "race war" season without any fatalities, ... more

Traditional Manchu papercuts

The last couple of weeks have brought two stories of double adoptions that are almost mirror images of each other. The first is a story of double happiness. Californians Michelle Teofan and Karl Garcia applied to adopt from China, They were rejected because he's in a wheelchair (this was before the... more

The Centers for Disease Control are issuing a warning that adults adopting from China seem to be at risk for developing measles.

Of all things.

Three different families traveling with the same Missouri-based adoption agency -- but traveling separately, possibly to three different SWIs in three different cities -- stayed at the same hotel in Guangdong Province last July.... more