Trends of Abandonments in China

A lot has been made of the recent surge in wait times for families adopting from China. The causes for this increase have been sufficiently addressed on this blog. Recent rumors of changes in the number of orphanages that will participate in the international adoption program require us to take a look at the history of the orphanages from the six main areas that have traditionally provided the majority of children in the International Adoption (IA) program. Those Provinces, in order of declining contribution and with their 2005 IA figures in brackets, are Jiangxi Province (2,900), Guangdong Province (2,600), Hunan Province (2,400), Guangxi Province (1,400), Chongqing Municipality (1,200) and Hubei Province (700). These six areas contributed 11,200 of the approximately 14,000 files submitted for international adoptions in 2005, or 80% of the total.

Jiangxi Province
Jiangxi Province provides more children for international adoption than any other Province in China. Largely rural, Jiangxi's orphanages submit twice as many children for international adoption per capita as the other major adopting Provinces (67.6 children submitted for IA in 2005 per million inhabitants verses around 30 children per million for Guangdong, Hunan, Guangxi and Chongqing Municipality, and 13 per million for Hubei Province).

Submission records are not available for Jiangxi in 2000, so 2003 and 2006 were used. In 2003, the top five adopting orphanages in Jiangxi were Fuzhou, Fengcheng, Xiushui, Hengfeng and Jianxin, each of whom submitted more than 100 children for international adoption, and who collectively submitted nearly 950 children, or a third of the entire Province.

Participating orphanages submitted approximately 2,700 files to the CCAA in 2003, a number that dropped to around 2,450 in 2006. To compensate for the 10% decline in submissions, the CCAA added new orphanages to the IA program, and these five new facilities submitted a little over 300 files in 2006, causing Jiangxi Province’s total submission rate to remain flat over the four years.

In 2003, 37 orphanages were involved in international adoption in Jiangxi. By 2006, nineteen of those orphanages had seen their numbers decrease, four remained constant, and fourteen saw an increase in submission rates. The largest decrease was seen by the Xinyu orphanage, which saw its numbers fall from 96 submissions in 2003 to just 9 in 2006. The largest increase in the Province was in Shanggao, which saw its submissions rise from just eight in 2003 to 63 in 2006, a 687% increase.1The average number of submissions in 2003 was 74 per orphanage, a number that dropped to 66 submissions per orphanage in 2006 as smaller orphanages were brought into the IA program.

Guangdong Province
Second only to Jiangxi Province in IA submissions, Guangdong Province contains large areas of both urban (eastern) and rural (western) populations.

The top five adopting orphanages in Guangdong Province in 2000 were Guangzhou, Huazhou, Lianjiang, Maoming, and Zhanjiang, each of which submitted in excess of 100 files for international adoption. Collectively, these five orphanages submitted 720 children for adoption in 2000, or 40% of the total for the Province.

By 2005, only two of the top five from 2000 remained there – Zhanjiang and Huazhou. Huazhou had experienced a 33% decline in the five years, while Zhanjiang had increased by 28%. Maoming’s place in the top five was replaced by her sister orphanage Maonan, which was created in 2002 as a district of Maoming, and whose geographical boundaries were once part of Maoming City’s. Taken together, Maonan and Maoming City’s submissions for 2005 were 232, the second highest submission for all of Guangdong.

The highest number of children submitted in 2005 were from the Yangxi orphanage. Yangxi joined the IA program in 2002, and submitted 262 files to the CCAA in 2005. The last orphanage in the top five was Gaozhou, which saw a 265% increase in submissions between 2000 and 2005. Thus, by the end of 2005, the top five orphanages in Guangdong Province were the Yangxi, Gaozhou, Huazhou, Zhanjiang, and Maonan orphanages.

Taken collectively the ten orphanages that experienced increases more than offset the twenty-two orphanages in Guangdong that remained the same or decreased. In 2000, all 32 orphanages in the IA program submitted 1,813 children for international adoption. In 2005, those same orphanages submitted 1,908, a 5% increase. Additionally, the CCAA added a total of 21 new orphanages to the program, which submitted nearly 700 children of their own to the CCAA. Thus, for 2005 Guangdong Province submitted a total of 2,603 children for adoption, a 44% increase over 2000.

The increasing submission rates in western Guangdong from 2000 to 2003 drew the attention of the CCAA, and an investigation was launched in early 2004 at several orphanages in Western Guangdong Province. Files were inspected, and finding records verified in Maoming, Gaozhou, Huazhou, DianBai, Wuchuan, and several other orphanages. Apparently no impropriety was found, although record-keeping irregularities were found in Huazhou. Most orphanages reached a submission peak in 2003, and have been declining since then, although submission rates in 2005 were still generally higher than 2000.

Hunan Province
In 2000, Hunan had 23 orphanages participating in the international adoption program. The top five orphanages in adoptions for 2000 were Zhuzhou, Yueyang City, Changde, Yiyang, and Shaoyang, all of whom submitted in excess of 120 children each in 2000. The remaining 18 orphanages ranged from eight (Yuanjiang, Miluo) to 98 (Xiangtan). With 663 submissions, the top five orphanages represented nearly half of the adoptions for all of Hunan Province.

By 2005, only Yiyang remained in the top five, although IA submissions had risen nearly 50%. Zhuzhou’s adoptions for 2005 were 74, a 47% decline from 2000. Yueyang City fell 76% to 33, Shaoyang fell 58% to 51. Although Changde was unchanged over the five-year period, a new group of orphanages rose to push Changde out of the top five.

Taken as a group, Hunan’s orphanages active in the IA program submitted almost 1,400 files to the CCAA in 2000. These same orphanages actually increased their submissions through 2005, but the increase can be mostly attributed to a small number of orphanages. Of the 23 orphanages in the program in 2000, ten of them remained unchanged or decreased the number of submissions made in 2005 when compared with 2000. Changsha First saw its numbers increase over 100% to 142 files submitted in 2005. Yueyang County saw its numbers increase 150% to 75, even while her sister orphanage, Yueyang City, saw its numbers drop 76%, resulting in a net decline for the area. The CCAA invited more orphanages into the IA program, adding Yuanling in 2001, Hengdong and Zhijiang in 2002, Zhishan in 2003, Hengnan, Linxiang, Huaihua and Lanshan in 2004, and Xiangxi, Fengyu, and Ningyuan in 2005. These additions boosted the number of files submitted in 2005 by over 500, for a total of nearly 2,400 submissions in 2005, a 71% increase from 2000.

In looking at Hunan, one might draw the conclusion that this is one Province that is actually increasing their adoption rates, and while it is true that a majority of Hunan’s orphanages increased submissions from 2000 to 2005, a deeper analysis of the numbers shows that the bulk of Hunan’s increase can be attributed to just six orphanages, three of which are the principle orphanages involved in the Hunan trafficking scandal: Qidong, Hengshan and Hengyang County. The two other orphanages involved in the scandal were not in the IA program in 2000, but by 2005 both of these orphanages were submitting in excess of 100 files each, the largest number of any of the new Hunan orphanages that joined after 2000.

Qidong submitted 30 files to the CCAA in 2000, roughly half of the Provincial average of 60. By 2005, however, the trafficking of children had boosted Qidong’s submissions to almost 150, a four-fold increase. Qidong’s partners in the trafficking ring experienced equally impressive increases. Hengshan’s numbers jumped from 40 to over 120, a 200% increase, and Hengyang County, the ringleader of the trafficking ring, saw its numbers skyrocket from 13 submissions in 2000 to over 118 in 2005, an 800% increase. Only one other orphanage in Hunan saw similar increases. Although not implicated in the trafficking story, Yongzhou saw its adoption submissions jump from 35 in 2000 to over 185 in 2005, an increase of 431%. It is perhaps not coincidental that Yongzhou2 lies in the same vicinity as Qidong, Hengyang, and the others. One must also wonder why no alarms went off in Beijing like it had with Guangdong.3

Given the complexities of the baby trafficking case, and its unknown breadth in Hunan, it is difficult to assess if Hunan’s numbers naturally increased or decreased over the 2000 to 2005 time period.

Guangxi Province
In 2000, thirteen orphanages were participating in the IA program in Guangxi. The top five orphanages in 2000 were Nanning, Baihai, Wuzhou, Mother’s Love, and Guilin, which together submitted almost 600 files for adoption, or 60% of the nearly 1,000 submitted by the entire Province. Only three orphanages submitted more than 100 children for adoption, Baihai, Wuzhou and Nanning, which was the largest orphanage for adoptions with over 200.

Total adoptions increased slightly from 2000 to 2005, but average submissions fell from 76 per orphanage in 2000 to 53 per orphanage in 2005. The orphanages participating in 2000 collectively submitted a little over 1,000 files to the CCAA in 2005, a 4% increase. As a group, slightly more than half (7) of the orphanages experienced declines, and six increased their submission rates. Additionally, the CCAA added eleven additional orphanages to the IA program, which collectively submitted around 250 files for adoption. With the addition of these eleven orphanages, international adoptions increased 30% in Guangxi from 2000 to 2005.

Several orphanages saw substantial increases over that period, however. Baihai increased its submissions 42% to 142 file submissions in 2005, while Yulin City more than doubled their adoption rate from 40 to 125. Hepu also more than doubled its submissions to 64, while Guiping experienced the largest growth of all of the Guangxi orphanages, increasing 240% from 2000 to 2005. In 2005, the top five orphanages were Baihai, Yulin, Nanning, Guilin and Guiping, three of whom were also in the top five in 2000.

Chongqing Municipality
Prior to 1997, Chongqing Municipality was part of Sichuan Province, and many adoptive families still refer to Chongqing in that way. In 1997, Chongqing City was merged with Fuling, Wanxian and Qianjiang to form Chongqing Municipality in a desire by China’s central government to increase development in the western regions of China.

In 2003, the CCAA began opening orphanages in the various districts around Chongqing, including Qianjiang, Hechuan, Liangping, Wanzhou, and others. The number of orphanages in Chongqing Municipality tripled in 2003 to nine. An additional three orphanages were opened in 2004, one in 2005, and two more in 2006 (although these two have not yet adopted internationally). By the end of 2006, 14 orphanages were adopting, or in the process of adopting, children internationally in Chongqing.

Prior to 2003, the largest adopting orphanage was Fuling District, which submitted 569 files to the CCAA. Chongqing City was the next largest, with 173 submissions in 2003. The rest of the top five were Dianjiang, Qianjiang, and Liangping, each of which submitted over 100 files to the CCAA. In all, 1,367 children were submitted for adoption in 2003.

Like most Provinces, Chongqing Municipality-area orphanages as a whole saw its numbers decrease. In 2006, the total number of files submitted for international adoption had decreased 33% to 910. The change was sporadic and inconsistent: Fuling’s adoptions dropped 76% (to 135), while Xiushan increased over 600% (to 153). In 2006, the top five orphanages were Xiushan, Fuling, Qianjiang, Dianjiang, and Banan, with two of that group submitting less than 100 dossiers to the CCAA. On average, Chongqing's orphanages submitted 136 files in 2003, an average that dropped to 60 in 2006.

Hubei Province
Hubei has the lowest ratio of IA submissions per capita of any of the main Provinces (13 submissions in 2005 per million people). In 2000, the largest submitting orphanage was Huanggang, the only orphanage to submit more than 100 files to the CCAA. The other orphanages in the top five were Wuhan (94), Dawu (44), Daye (44) and Wuxue (43). The top five orphanages submitted in total 327 files in 2000, comprising nearly half of the children internationally adopted in the entire Province (676).

Like Guangxi, Hubei’s adoption rate stayed nearly constant among the orphanages participating in the IA program in 2000. Six orphanages joined the IA program, and these orphanages submitted only 73 files combined in 2005.

By 2005, Huanggang remained in first place, increasing submissions 22% to 124, still the only orphanage in Hubei to submit more than 100 files. Wuhan remained in second place, practically unchanged over the five years. Third place was a relatively unknown orphanage in 2000, Tuanfeng, which saw a dramatic increase of over 240% in the five years, submitting 65 files in 2005. The remaining orphanages in the top five were also newcomers: Qichun (58) and Chongyang (35).

In all, eighteen orphanages had their numbers decrease from 2000 to 2005, while twelve had increases.

Overview
From the analysis of the six primary Provinces involved in the International Adoption program in China, one can see that the submission rate is generally trending lower, but with pockets of exceptions (see table below). Taken collectively, two Provinces experienced declines (Chongqing, Jiangxi), two remained essentially flat (Guangxi, Hubei), and one was slightly higher (Guangdong). Hunan was substantially higher, but a large part of that increase was due to trafficked children.

In 2000 (2003 in the case of Chongqing and Jiangxi), nearly 9,000 files were submitted by the six Provinces to the CCAA for international adoption. That number fell to a little over 8,700 (a 4% decline) for those same orphanages in 2005 and 2006 (including the Hunan orphanages), and totaled almost 10,700 when the orphanages added to the program since 2000 are added in. This increase tracks with the increasing numbers of adoptions conducted in China (5,053 by the U.S. in 2000, 7,906 by the U.S. in 2005). One can clearly see that as file submissions decline from participating orphanages, additional orphanages are “invited” into the program. Thus, a delicate supply-demand balance is maintained.

But these orphanages, on average, brought fewer and fewer children into the program. Whereas in 2000 the average number of files submitted by each orphanage was 61, by 2005 that number had decreased to 49. If there were hidden pockets of thousands of children, it seems the CCAA would have drawn on them. Instead, new orphanages are, with a few exceptions, small facilities that bring relatively few children into the program. Additionally, many of the new orphanages are simply district orphanages, drawing children from the larger city and county orphanages. This is the case with such orphanages as Maonan district (taken from Maoming City), Qianjiang District (taken from Chongqing City), and so on.

Unfortunately, several factors prevent us from drawing too many conclusions as to how accurately the submission rates of the individual orphanages reflects trends in abandonment rates, since we are not able to determine the other major component in the equations: Domestic adoption rates from these same orphanages. It is possible, for example, that the abandonment rates might be increasing in some areas, but that domestic adoption rates are increasing faster, thus lowering submissions to the IA program. This would lead one to falsely conclude that abandonment rates were decreasing in that area.

Conversely, if abandonment rates are falling in an orphanage’s jurisdiction, but that orphanage is doing fewer domestic adoptions, naturally their submission rate to the CCAA would increase, falsely leading one to conclude that abandonment rates are increasing in that area.

Therefore, one can not make any firm conclusions on abandonment rates on the basis of IA submissions unless other information can be factored into the equation.

One such additional source of information are the directors of the orphanages themselves. In early 2006 I conducted a survey of all of the directors involved with international adoption at that time. In the course of the conversation, seventeen directors directly spoke about abandonment rates, indicating in every case that abandonment rates were falling.

In a few cases, there are orphanages that do only international adoptions, domestic families being barred from applying. This is the case, for example, in Liangping and Qianjiang orphanages in Chongqing. In these two cases we don’t need to wonder if domestic adoptions are impacting our perception of abandonment rates, for nearly every child found in these areas are submitted to the CCAA for adoption.4 Between 2003 (when these orphanages opened) and 2006, both Liangping and Qianjiang orphanages experienced declines in adoption submissions (68% and 12% respectively). Thus, we can safely conclude that at least in these two areas, abandonment rates are declining.

In the case of one orphanage, we do have the number of domestic adoptions that were performed, and we can thus determine its core abandonment rate. Guangzhou orphanage in Guangdong performed a total of 680 adoptions in 2000. Of these, 547 were domestic and 133 were international. The total number of adoptions fell to 194 in 2005, with 148 of those being domestic adoptions, and 46 being international. Thus, although Guangzhou shows a decline in international adoptions from 2000 to 2005 of 66%, total adoptions fell 71%, showing that the abandonment rate in Guangzhou fell more than the international adoption rate.

This example illustrates one problem with drawing conclusions of abandonment rates based on international adoption rates. It seems likely that a director could, upon recording declining numbers of children entering his or her orphanage, shift a greater percentage of those children from the domestic adoption program to the international adoption program. The reason for doing so is obvious: International Adoption provides more funding to the orphanage than domestic adoptions, since few Chinese can match the $3,000 adoption fee required of international families. Thus, even though abandonment rates in a given orphanage district decrease, that orphanage might respond to this decline by submitting a greater percentage of the children to the international adoption program. This would result in our analysis showing an increase over the five year period, falsely leading us to assume abandonment rates are increasing in that area, when in fact the opposite is true.

That this is occurring is supported by the results of our 2006 survey of directors, which revealed that over 90% of the more than 250 orphanages surveyed refused to adopt a child to a domestic family. In fact, the vast majority of orphanages report long waiting lists of domestic families seeking to adopt, even while those same orphanages continue participating in the IA program.

Another component in the equation is the ratio of healthy to special needs children being found in China. This ratio was addressed by many directors in our survey, when they stated that the number of “special” children to healthy children was increasing. Thus, an orphanage may submit 100 files in both 2000 and 2005, but if the number of special needs children is increasing, a declining percentage of those 100 files will be for healthy children.

Conclusions
Files submissions, interviews, anecdotal evidence, and economic and sociological trends in China all point to a reduction in the number of healthy children being abandoned in China. While the number of healthy children being abandoned is decreasing, the number of special needs children being abandoned seems to be increasing. But this trend is not universal. Western Guangdong Province, for example, seems to have experienced increasing abandonment rates in recent years, to the point where investigations were conducted to rule out trafficking.

Thus, it seems that although the CCAA can take limited steps to increase the number of children available for international adoption, trends in China show that the number of healthy children will continue to decline.


Addendum:
For 2006, Guangdong Province orphanages submitted a total of 1,906 files, a decline of 27% from 2005 figures. Interestingly, all of 2005's Top Five orphanages saw significant declines: Gaozhou declined 74%, Huazhou declined 57%, Zhanjiang declined 56%, Yangxi declined 18%, and Maonan-Maoming declined 37%.

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1. For the purpose of these calculations, only orphanages that submit more than five files in any given year are considered in high and low classifications. This is to prevent a distortion of trends, such as using an orphanage that submitted one file in 2000 and 4 in 2005. Although the orphanage did increase its submissions by 400%, I felt such an increase is not representative of the true conditions.

2. I have no solid evidence that Yongzhou trafficked children, but I am impressed by the increase this orphanage has experienced. The orphanages implicated in the trafficking were "shut down" for most of 2006, and thus had very few files submitted to the CCAA (they began to submit again in the fourth quarter 2006). Yongzhou, however, submitted children throughout the year, with its numbers falling to 114 in 2006, a 38% decline from 2005.

3. It is, of course, possible that the CCAA was already aware of the trafficking problems in Hunan when the story broke in late 2005.

4. The only children that are not submitted to the CCAA are those with debilitating deformities or severe mental incapacities (see my blog essay "Creating Paper-Ready Babies" on the procedures and constraints for submitting files by the orphanages).
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Table of Provinces:
Province 2000/ 2005a/ 2005b
Jiangxi = 2,735 (’03)/2,453(’06)/2,769 (’06)
Guangdong = 1,813/1,908/2,603
Hunan = 1,397/1,875/2,396
Chongqing = 1,367 (’03)/837 (’06)/910 (’06)
Guangxi = 988/1,026/1,288
Hubei = 676/650/723

Total = 8,976/8,749/10,689

a denotes totals for those orphanages that were involved in the IA program in 2000. This column allows a true “apples-to apples” comparison in submission rates between 2000 and 2005.
b denotes totals for the Province, including 2000 orphanages plus orphanages added to the IA program since 2000.

Child Abandonment From the Inside V (Conclusion)

In researching the birth mothers of children adopted from China, we have seen that a significant portion are young, unmarried women. There are, of course, several factors that are at play. Some women, for example, will have a baby believing that giving birth to a male will increase their chances of getting married to their boy friends. When the baby is discovered to be a girl, the boy friend often disappears, leaving the girl to deal with the now unwanted child. Others are unable to pay the medical fees associated with abortions. Many do not even recognize that they are pregnant until it is too late to have an abortion.

In this, the final installment in our "Child Abandonment from the Inside" series, we meet a typical unmarried woman. Although the focus of this particular article is on the woman's migrant status, these stories are by no means limited to the migrant population. Single women across China -- from middle class urbanite to poor rural girls -- commonly experience unplanned pregnancies. China's modesty to sex prevents many from getting educated in "sex and sexual health".

Another common feature of this story is the abandment location -- a public bathroom. Many children are found in these locations, since bathrooms possess the perfect abandonment characteristics -- momentarily private, yet frequently visited. Whether it is a Gas Station or hospital bathroom, a woman is able to walk in, leave her child in complete privacy, and walk out knowing that within minutes a stranger will walk into the bathroom and discover the child.

This article is a transcript of a Guangzhou News broadcast from September 2003.

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Ms. Long, an eighteen year old single woman, got pregnant while working in Guangzhou. During her entire nine month pregnancy her roommate didn’t realize anything. Later when Long went to the toilet, she gave birth to a baby girl unexpectedly. Shockingly indeed, Long didn’t go to the hospital; instead, she dropped her baby into the toilet and let her be washed down the drain. How is the baby now? Why did her mother want to abandon her? Next follows the story about the abandonment of a baby by a migrant lady worker.

At about 6:00 pm on September 4, [2003] there came a baby’s crying. Several cleaners working for a factory in the Guangzhou Baiyun district then searched for the baby and found that the crying may come from under the manhole covers. Ms. Liu was the first one that heard the crying of the baby. She thought the baby must be somewhere else for the factory is not supposed to have babies. She called for two cleaners others to come and help look for the origin of the crying.

Ms. Liu: I was cleaning the grounds when I heard the crying. I looked for it everywhere and finally came to this manhole cover.
Having not found anything after searching almost everywhere, they drew their attention to the several manhole covers. However, they were stunned by what they saw when they opened the third manhole cover.

Ms. Jiang: The baby was right here naked. I picked her up for cleaning and got her dressed.

Later, the man in charge of the factory came and after he learned what had happened, he made a prompt decision that the baby should be sent to the nearby hospital immediately.

Mr. Li (Factory Supervisor): My immediate reaction was to send the baby to the hospital, because saving her life was the most important thing.

As soon as the baby was sent to the Zuiliao People’s Hospital in Baiyun district, the doctors started the rescue work. According to Doctor Zhong who had participated in the rescue work, the baby was then wholly pale with her skin damaged and her heart had ceased to beat.

Reporter: How was the baby’s umbilical core cut off in that situation?

Doctor Zhong: It was done unprofessionally by some kind of tile. The cut was rough and with blood.

The baby was safe after the rescue. In the meantime, the factory started an investigation. They found the mother of the baby and sent her to the hospital.
The baby’s mother has the surname Long, and she came from Guizhou. She is only nineteen years old and unmarried. She found herself pregnant after breaking up with her boyfriend.

Reporter: Where was the baby born?

Long Yun: In the toilet.

Reporter: How was the umbilical core cut off?

Long Yun: I don’t know.

Reporter: Where did you go after you gave birth to your baby?

Long Yun: I just went away.

This unmarried mother was unwilling to answer our reporter’s questions and didn’t talk much, especially about the cause of her abandoning the baby. However, what made us wonder was that why the baby was found by the cleaners under the manhole cover if she was born in the toilet? How did this happen? “Was the baby put under the manhole cover?” asked our reporter.

Answered Ms. Jiang: No. It must have been washed there by water from somewhere else.

The distance between the toilet and the manhole cover is seven to eight meters long. There must be some connection between the two. In order to find out the truth, we came to the lady’s toilet under the guidance of the people in the factory.

Ms. Li (Another factory supervisor): This is the overflow channel for the toilet. The baby could be washed away through here.

Being such a long distance of seven to eight meters long, it’s hard to believe that the baby could still survive after what she had gone through. What a miracle it was that she exerted her final strength and called for help to save her little life. If it wasn’t for that hard crying and the persistent searching from those cleaners, the baby would be washed away farther and farther and for sure, would have been lost forever in that case.

Doctor Deng in the Zhuliao People Hospital in Baiyun district: There were sharp bruise on the baby’s body, including her hands and knees.

According to Long’s roommate, our reporter learned that Long was so introverted that she seldom communicated with others and talked little. Having little knowledge of physiology, sex and self-protection, Long went out shopping and had a cold bath after she gave birth to the baby.

Such cases was not unique. It happens quite often to these lady workers, which the doctors find very tricky to deal with. According to the president in the Zhuliao People Hospital in Baiyun district, such cases are often seen among the female migrant workers who are all unmarried. We are supposed to file a report first, but watching them about to give birth to babies, we have to give priority to the mother and the baby’s safety out of humanism. However, what we do is against the Family Planning requirements. That’s why we find it very tricky to deal with.

Lu Ying, director in the Women and Sex Study Center at Sun-Yet University told us that most unmarried mother have poor knowledge and no sense of responsibility to society or the child. According to some statistics, currently there are 26 million migrant workers in Guangdong. 70% of them are from other provinces, among which 70% are female. All of these females have reached the legal age of getting married; however, most of them get pregnant without a basic knowledge of sex and physiology and always end up either having an abortion or abandoning the baby.

Director Lu Ying said that these women are less competitive in getting married. Our society should care them more and have their legal consciousness improved.

Long went to see her baby at our reporter’s repeated request. We thought that she may show a little love for her baby when she saw her; however, we were wrong. Long just forced a smile while she glanced at her baby. The doctor told us afterwards that Long didn’t want the baby back even though they had rescued her. It’s so hard to believe that this is the mother who gave birth to the baby. We couldn’t help but worry how this abandoned baby is going to live in this world?

For now, the unmarried mother and the baby stay in the hospital for observation and treatment. We will follow the story and have immediate report. From the above mentioned abandoned baby story, it’s apparent that the female immigrant workers lack knowledge of sex and sexual health. Also their attitude towards love is distorted. All of this deserves our great attention. They not only deserve the basic rights for migrant workers, but also need the corrective guidance from society of the outlook on life, values and attitude towards love.

More photos can be found at the following link:
http://news.gd.sina.com.cn/social/2003-09-12/146997.html

Child Abandonment From the Inside IV

Last week's article on the abandonment of a little girl in a temple provoked strong reactions from readers. Many refused to believe the veracity of the story, believing it was fabricated or had been written a long time ago. Many found it difficult to understand the reactions of the temple workers, which resulted in the death of the baby girl through neglect.

These articles have been chosen from many different accounts because they each describe a prevalent belief or cultural attribute of China. We might find them hard to read, and even harder to believe, but as I wrote in the comment to last week's article, they confirm many similar experiences I have personally had -- attitudes displayed to abandoned children, reactions by orphanage staff, bureaucrats, the police, and others involved directly or indirectly in infant abandonment. These stories are simply not unique in any way.

Although this week's story has a happy ending, the careful reader will detect how many times the story could have ended tragically. If not for the intervention of the "Zhiyin" magazine and their tenactious reporter, any one of many administrative roadblocks would have ended the quest. Even the words of the orphanage director, a person whose job it is to find loving homes for the children in her care, ring false and cynical when she is approached by the "press".

At their roots, most abandonment stories are based in selfishness and self-interest. Whether it is a single woman seeking to avoid the consequences of her pregnancy, or a married couple seeking to please grand-parents or themselves with a "lucky" boy, most stories are avoidable. One class of stories, however, is the opposite. Given China's lack of affordable healthcare for its poorest citizens, the following story illustrates the quandary some parents are placed in when their child is born with a special need, or becomes sick. These stories are heart-breaking.

As I stated in a comment to last week's essay, there are never happy stories when it comes to abandonment in China. With this week's essay, I make a small exception.
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On October 17, 2003, our periodical (“Zhi Yin” [Bosom Friends]) received a letter from Jiang Jiaxue in Huangchuang, Henan. He asked us to do him a favor. The letter contained 18 pages, and told us a story about their unfortunate life experience. They begged us sincerely to inquire about a seriously ill baby named Jiang Ruyi who has been separated from them for already half a year. They didn’t know where he was or whether he was fine or not. Jiang Jinxue said that his wife He Hongli had been missing her son so badly that she shed tears every day and is always at a loss. She had been diagnosed with having borderline psychosis and the situation was getting worse. Jiang Jinxue also had been thinking of his son and suffering guilt for him. At work, he made mistakes from time to time and thus hurt himself, resulting in his becoming handicapped. He even contemplated creating a car accident, so that he could win the compensation from the insurance company. With the money, his wife may finally find their son whom both of them were desperate for.

Our reporters began to make a thorough investigation as soon as they saw the letter and started searching for the baby for the anxious couple.

This family, miserable indeed, happened to have another unfortunate life.

Jiang Jinxue, aged 33, got married with He Hongli two years his younger, in 1993. Later they gave birth to a daughter named Qianqian. According to China’s Family Planning policy, they could have another baby after Qianqian reached five years of age.

In May 2002, He Hongli got pregnant again. This surprise brought the couple much happiness. They were expecting the coming of the child. In early August, He Hongli suddenly fell down from a fainting spell. Jiang Jinxue sent her to the hospital in town for a physical. The result came out that He Hongli had serious anemia. She was so weak that the doctors told her not to bring the baby to term, since otherwise both the mother and the baby would be in danger. A few days later, He Hongli, accompanied by her husband, went to the hospital for an Induced Abortion.

He Hongli felt uncomfortable after the surgery. One month later, she unexpectedly had heavy vaginal bleeding, and Jiang Jinxue rushed her to the People’s Hospital in Huangchang town. After giving an examination, the doctor found that the baby inside He Hongli’s womb was still there and alive. However, the doctor suggested she have another thorough abortion, because after the previous curettage, the fetus had been damaged and probably would be born deformed. The couple was in a dilemma. They adored this strong little life and did not want to deprive him of his life again.

Finally after much mental struggle, the kind-heated He Hongli decided to bear the baby. She told her husband that even if the baby were born a fool; she would be willing to take care of him for his whole life. Knowing that his wife was determined, he did not go against it.

On January 28, 2003, the baby was finally going to come into the world after the hard gestation. He Hongli was so weak that she had to undergo a cesarean delivery. During the surgery, He Hongli had excessive bleeding and her life was in danger. When separated from his mother, the baby’s face had already turned purple from labored breathing. The doctors made an emergency rescue of both the mother and the baby.

When Jiang Jin was told by the hospital that his wife and son were in danger, he thought that they were unlikely to survive. However, after two hours of emergency rescue, the mother and the baby came back to life again.

The baby was a boy, weighing no more than 2 kg. He was so weak that the doctors put him into an incubator. The baby received more than 20 days of intensive care there and was not allowed to be taken back home by his parents until it was made sure that he was not going to be at life risk again. The baby looked very handsome, smart and lively; nothing like a crippled child, which was a big relief for the couple.

Jiang Jinxue and his wife named the baby “Ruyi” which means “good will”. They wished their baby would be safe and well for his whole life, meanwhile bringing good luck to his family. But due to the weakness of his body, little Ruyi became ill from time to time.

One month after being discharged from the hospital, the couple found that their son had a hernia. Worse still, it existed in both of the testicles which is rare. After only a few days, the testicles swelled to be as big as two balloons. Little Ruyi had been good before that, but then he almost lost his voice from crying. His parents sent him to the hospital in town immediately. There the doctor said that the situation was not very positive and that surgery had to be done immediately, otherwise the baby would die. However, the hospital was not well equipped to do the special surgery for this small and weak of a baby. Thus they suggested the baby should be sent to the People’s Hospital for treatment.

On February 28, [2003], the couple hired a car and brought their son to the People’s Hospital in Xinyang city. By then the baby’s situation was rather serious. The doctors there made two emergency rescues for the baby. They thought a surgery for the baby at that moment would bring danger for the baby, so decided it better to observe him first. But in the evening on March 30th, the hospital had emergency information for the couple and told them the baby was in a really bad situation, and that he should be transmitted to a certain large specialty hospital in Wuhan. For the time being, little Ruyi’s eyes were barely seen for his head had swollen very big.

In the morning of March 31, little Ruyi was staying in the newborn surgery area of a certain large specialty hospital in Wuhan. The hospital checked little Ruyi and diagnosed that his small intestines were stuck in the hernial hole, and part of them had died due the length of time without blood flow. They said a surgery was needed, but warned that the baby very weak, so the parents should be prepared for the possibility that the surgery may fail.

At the same time, the hospital urged the couple to keep current in payments for all of the treatment expenses.

About 20,000 yuan had been spent from the day the baby was born. When they came to Wuhan, they had to pay 2,000 yuan for the “Pledge of Hospitalization”(a security deposit). Jiang Jinxue and his wife searched their pockets and only had 400 yuan to hand in. Then they used the remaining change to made phonecalls to their relatives and friends at home. They begged Jiang Jinxue’s elder brother to bring them the money the next day in the early morning. His brother had not been friendly to Jiang Jinxue for he was in big debt. “I can bring you the money, but let’s make it clear that you should pay me the traveling expenses,” he said unhappily to Jiang Jinxue.

The couple expected that little Ruyi’s uncle would arrive in the evening. Being afraid that he may not find them in the large hospital, they stood in front of the hospital all night long. As dawn arrived, the brother still did not show up.

Without money, the surgery for little Ruyi had to be delayed. He Hongli was extremely anxious. Her husband could only turn to Doctor Yu, the doctor in charge. Doctor Yu told the hospital administration about their situation and the hospital made an exception to do the surgery first. Doctor Yu also borrowed 100 yuan for the father to go back home.

The next morning (April 1), the surgery for little Wuxia began as expected. Despite a few difficulties in the surgery，it turned out better than what the doctors had thought. He Hongli had been waiting outside the operating room for more than 4 hours. When she learned that the surgery was a successful one, she finally sank down to the ground.

Though the surgery was successful, the frail baby was not out of the woods yet. He was still receiving 24-hour monitoring in the intensive care room. Anytime a problem might happen to him. All kinds of treatment expenses were charged, adding up to more than 3000 yuan for one day, which was a huge burden to the couple. Later in the evening, Jiang Jinxue borrowed more than 4,000 yuan at home and rushed back to the hospital. But by that time, the couple owed the hospital more than 8,000 yuan. His wife had been repeatedly asked to pay the money by the hospital. Jiang Jinxue went to the baby ward to see his baby son and touched his small face gently. Staying with him for no more than half an hour, he hurried home again to try collecting more money.

On the way, Jiang Jinxue thought it over and over and decided that his elder brother was the one that he could turn to. When he arrived back home, he begged his brother to loan him several thousand yuan from the Credit Cooperative, but his brother turned him down again. Achieving nothing, Jiang Jinxue went back to the hospital on April 2nd.

The hospital had been urging the couple to pay the treatment expenses immediately. They said if the money was not paid soon, they would stop giving medicine to the baby. He Hongli was so worried that she cried hard and kept asking her husband, “What are we going to do?” Hardly having slept for several days, Jiang Jinxue felt exhausted and did not know what to do.

The baby was still in critical condition and the consequences would be too ghastly to contemplate if the medicine was not served any more. They just couldn’t sit there and wait for the baby to die. Jiang Jinxue was so distressed that he wanted to jump out of the window of the hospital building. Suddenly, an idea came to his mind—why not go away first and leave the baby in the hospital? This is the place of saving lives, afterall. Even without the parents to pay the money, they wouldn’t just stop treating his son and watch him die! We can leave our baby here in the hospital for some time and when we earn enough money after working outside together, we can come back and retrieve our baby.

However, he soon abandoned the idea, because doing so was against one’s conscience. Thinking hard on it for almost half a day, he finally had to accept the previous idea, for there was no other way out. Making up his mind, he pulled his wife aside and told her what he was intending to do. “What if the hospital sends our baby to someone else?”He Hongli asked. “It may not be a bad idea if that happens. Anyway, it’s better than to die for a lack of money!”the husband replied. He Hongli thought it over and over and had to agree her husband’s idea was a good one.

At 9 o’clock in the evening of April 2, Jiang Jinxue and He Hongli went to see their baby son for the last time in the intensive care unit. The baby opened his eyes and looked at them. Then he smiled to his parents. He Hongli could not help but burst into tears, kissing her baby son again and again Later, they slide away from the hospital and got on the train in the Hankou railway station heading back home. After making the decision, He Hongli regretted it several times and her husband, despite feeling he was unwilling to do so, pulled her back each time she wanted to go back to the hospital.

A week later, on April 10, Jiang Jinxue and his wife, He Hongli, went to Henglin town in Changzhou Wujin city, Jiangsu province. Both of them started to work in a factory by the recommendation of He Hongli’s cousin, Mr. Wei. In order to earn as much money as possible, the couple worked fourteen to fifteen hours a day without feeling tired. When everything was settled down the following June, Jiang Jinxue wrote to Doctor Yu, the head doctor, twice expressing his sorry for the hospital and promising he would definitely pay what he had owed the hospital. He asked the hospital to take good care of his baby. However, he did not receive any information back from the hospital.

Realizing that writing letters was not going to work, Jian Jinxue plucked up his spirit and called 114 (China’s Information) to check the phone number of the hospital. He felt too ashamed to talk to the hospital personally, so he asked Mr. Wei to call the newborn surgery unit of the hospital to inquire after his son’s location. Everyone who answered the phone said they knew nothing about the boy and Doctor Yu couldn’t be found either until in late August Even he could not recall anything about the boy. After Mr. Wei told him what had happened, he said “You lost the baby in April and you just start to look for him now? You are lucky that the hospital hasn’t sued you for abandoning the baby. You ask the parents to come to the hospital in person and look for the baby themselves.”

Jiang Jinxue and his wife could not believe what had happened. According to the known information they had, their baby was not in the hospital any more. Thoughts filled their minds: Where could he be? Little Ruyi was then in dangerous situation. How could he survive? It’s apparent that it’s wrong to leave the baby in the hospital and slide away. The couple started to be badly haunted and tortured by guilt and regret.

A few days later, when Jiang Jinxue was working but lacked concentration, he had half of one of his fingers cut off by a spinning machine. This injury resulted in his being permanently disabled. His wife, He Hongli shed tears every day. At 3 o’clock in the morning on September 17, He Hongli sat up of bed suddenly and said happily to her husband, “Look, Ruyi is smiling to me! He is smiling to me!”Jiang Jinxue stopped her immediately and comforted her to calm down. Later, he brought his wife to the hospital in town to see the doctor, and knew that she had a slight psychiatric disorder. It would become serious if she couldn’t get rid of the worry and guilt.

Where little Ruyi was and whether he was fine or not remain a misery to the couple. They would not feel at ease until the misery was resolved. No matter what, Jiang Jinxue had made up his mind to look for little Ruyi in Wuhan, but knowing he lacked the money to pay the hospital, he hesitated. Later, he even wanted to create a car accident and use his life to get compensation from the insurance company. He thought that his wife might use the money to go back to Wuhan and look for their son, but he couldn’t just leave his wife and baby this way.

On September 28, Jiang Jinxue read the magazine “Zhi Yin”and he thought that since it was a good magazine with high social responsibilities, he would write a letter to the magazine for help.

Zhi Yin Magazine’s Activity — Helping the couple to find their baby son

Each baby is a new life with dignity and blessing. To care about a little baby or a small life shows one’s social responsibility for a single person, a group of people, and the whole country. Aiming at promoting humanism, our magazine paid great attention to this. Reading the letter, we also worried tremendously about little Ruyi. We were anxious to know whether this poor baby was still alive or not? Where had he gone?

After some difficulties, our reporter found out the phone number of the surgery department of the hospital. They learned from the phone calls that the situation was exactly as Jiang Jinxue had written in the letter— everybody who picked up the phone knew nothing about the case. Could the baby have died already? Or was it because the hospital wanted to block the information of the baby? Our reporter was at a loss.

Did the hospital do nothing and watch the baby die? If so, can the parents sue the hospital? Our reporter called Luqin, a lawyer in Changhao Law Office in Henan Province. Luqin explain that the relationship between the hospital and the patient is contracted. That is, the patients pay the money and the hospital provides them the treatment service in return. The couple left their baby in the hospital, which meant that such a contracted relationship had ceased. The hospital can stop the treatment for little Ruyi, even though this is against humanism. They don’t bear any legal liability. Nevertheless, the fact that Jiang Jinxue and his wife abandoned their baby maybe against the law. Hanging off the phone, our reporter had little hope to see little Ruyi alive.

On the morning of October 25, our reporter arrived at the ward in the hospital, which was full of people. All the crew members came and went in like a blast. Our reporter asked a dozen people, and all they said was “I don’t know.” Doctor Yu was said to be on a business trip and wouldn’t be back until more than 10 days later. Finally we got Director Wu, leader in the administrative office. He told us that the hospital had strict rules regarding interviews. Before we could have an interview, we should first contact the Publicity Department, and then get the permission of the President office.

Our reporter worked the whole day, yet nothing was achieved. In the end, our reporter rushed to the reception desk of the ward and asked for a hospitalization expense list for little Ruyi. The list showed that the treatment expenses for little Ruyi totaled 13,300 yuan. The last day he stayed in the hospital was April 18. That is to say, after his parents ran away, the hospital continued to treat the baby for 16 additional days. This meant the baby was probably alive. But the question is—where had he gone after being discharged?

On October 26, our reporter returned to the hospital and learned that once the hospital finds an abandoned baby, the Security Department would take charge of it, and then they would call “110” to take away the baby. The child would then be taken to the police station in charge of the area. Our reporter asked Mr. Zhou in the Security Department to help check the records around April 18. The result showed that there was a baby boy sent somewhere on April 17.

In the afternoon that day, our reporter rushed to the welfare institute. After telling the person in charge, Ms. Zeng, about our intentions, we asked her to do us a favor and check the records for information on abandoned babies. She refused to do so. The welfare institute insisted that we should go to the relevant police station and asked for a police report first, proving that they did send a baby to the welfare institute.

Having many difficulties, our reporter finally got the report from the police station in charge of the area on Dec 28, and it proved that the police did send a baby to the welfare institute on April 17. The baby was described exactly the same as little Ruyi. Our reporter finally confirmed that the poor little Ruyi was still alive.

The truth came out in the end. Our reporter called Jiang Jinxue and his wife and told them to go to Wuhan. In the meantime, our reporter warned them that when they arrived in Wuhan, they might be arrested by the police if the welfare institute decided to sue them. “I am ready for that. I don’t care even I would stay behind bar for several years, because when I get out of there, I can work hard to make up for the years that I’ve missed. I believe that through my hard work, I can give my wife and child a happy home.”

On October 29, Jiang Jinxue and his wife hurried to Wuhan and came to the welfare institute along with our reporter. When Ms. Zeng saw the parents, she told us that the welfare institute did receive such a baby. She also described how little Ruyi was treated in the hospital. When the hospital found that the parents had slipped away, they continued to treat the seriously ill baby in the intensive care for as long as half a year. Then they called “110” and sent the baby to the welfare institute. Little Ruyi was not completely well and received additional special care for 3 months in the hospital inside the welfare institute until he recovered. The baby was so small that the welfare institute hired some experienced foster mother to take care of him. In fact, there came families from everywhere in the county asking to adopt the baby. A couple even offered to donate 200,000 yuan to the welfare institute to adopt the little Ruyi. However, the welfare institute thought that his parents might come to look for him, so they turned down everyone’s request for the baby’s own good. All the expenses for treating the baby paid by the welfare institute had amounted to more than 12,000 yuan.

In the end, Ms. Zeng criticized the couple, saying that the welfare institute had never encountered such a case. Usually they would report the case to the police station. Jiang Jinxue said sincerely that“I never expected that the hospital, the welfare institute and “Zhiyin” magazine would help us so much to look for a baby they scarcely knew about. I am ashamed that as a father, I abandoned him. You can tell the police and I am willing be take the responsibility for this stupid mistake I’ve made.” Ms. Zeng smiled and said “Forget about it. You were in a hard situation. Since there were no bad consequences, and since the reporter from “Zhiyin” worked so hard to help you look for the baby, we won’t report it to the police. You just take good care of this baby from now on.”

Our reporter couldn’t wait to see little Ruyi and wondered what does he look like 10 months later? Ms. Zeng put forth that to adopt the baby, a family should repay the money that the welfare institute had spent on keeping the baby. Additionally, there was another 5,000 yuan needed as pecuniary punishment. Thus, in all, they needed to pay more than 17,000 yuan.

Our reporter and the couple were stunned. Having no choice, they made contact with the vice-president of the Welfare Institute. He said that “Zhiyin” is a magazine that we like very much. Since you’ve paid so much attention to this case, we would like to cooperate and make another decision according to the specific situation.”

On November 3, our reporter and the couple came back to the Welfare Institute and finally had the problem solved. The institute decided to make this case a special one, and asked the couple for only 2,000 yuan.

Little Ruyi was brought over by his foster mother. To everyone’s surprise, having gone through all these difficulties, the little baby had grown up strong and became very cute and healthy. He laughed and moveed his hands and feet in his foster mother’s arms as we played with him. When taken from his foster mother by He Hongli, little Ruyi was not afraid of her and eager to get into her mother’s embrace. Being out of words to express his gratitude, Jiang Jinxue pulled his wife and kneeled down before everybody.

On November 4, as Jiang Jinxue was leaving with his wife, he said that though he was lucky to have his son back, he would never forget that he once left his son and abandoned him. He would feel guilty and ashamed for his whole life. Meanwhile, he promised again that though he is out of money now, he would go out to work with his wife and pay back the hospital no matter how hard it was.


http://www.zhiyin.com.cn/zy/ca2865.htm

Child Abandonment From the Inside III

The Temple and the Abandoned Baby

It is obvious, of course, that the children adopted from China's orphanages are those that were reported and brought to the orphanage by members of the surrounding community. But not every child found makes it to the orphanage. An unknown number die before they can be safe-harbored with a family, or the orphanage.

I read the following story many times, trying to decide if I should publish it. It is heart-breaking to read. I feel both anger and pity for the players involved, and my heart breaks for the small child. But I have encountered the attitudes and ideas portrayed by this story many times, and feel it brings understanding to the vast cultural differences between many in China and ourselves.

I don't want the reader to conclude that these attitudes are universal, but they are wide-spread and even common. This story occurs frequently enough, in one form or another, to be informative.

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Temples are solitude in the common people’s eyes. Every old yellow gate seems to prevent all the worldly worries from getting inside the temples.

On the morning this Sunday, it was so cold that every breath turned into fog immediately. The monk students came out of the gate to find that there was a baby girl lying on the floor. Her face had turned red because of the cold weather. She lay crying hard to the sky. A brave person picked up the baby and went inside. He put her in front of the King Palace, right before the fat laughing Buddha.

It was September 20th in lunar calendar which is October 19th in solar calendar.

All the monks surrounded the baby who was laid on the bluestone floor and crying all the time. I watched the baby’s little fat face and her crying mouth, thinking that she might have a wet diaper. Then I opened the baby’s wrapping cloth and found that there was a red envelope ,which had 20 RMB in it, and another piece of paper with words on it, stating: “Born on Sep. 2nd in lunar calendar.” She was only 18 days old.

A half bag of dried whole milk powder, which was not especially for babies, was tied to the baby’s wrist. There were other things too, including a milk bottle filled with milk, a clean diaper which was in fact a piece of rag, and a small sweater bound around the baby with a cord. That is all that was with the baby, nothing else. Apparently, the baby’s mother was very poor.

I exchanged the baby’s diaper for a new one and examined her belly button. She was very healthy. Her little bright eyes stared at me and sucked the cloth with her mouth. I looked at her and adored her for no reason. Then I knew I was going to take care of her. Out of impulse, I rushed to the magnetic phone and called the temple where my monk tutor was. He was the director of the Buddhist Association and busy out ata meeting then. So the driver, Mr. Sun, answered my phone.

Before I had finished telling what had happened to him, Mr. Sun yelled “Please leave that baby alone. Now the family plan is implemented everywhere. If the temple is going to adopt the baby girl, then all the extra babies will be sent to the temple. What’s more, the people working in the Family Planning Office searched the temple yesterday.” I was stunned and felt confused. What had the Family Planing to do with the temple? And then Mr. Sun shouted at me again, “You’d better not be so kind hearted. No one can take care of such an issue. Leave the baby where it was. Just don’t send her to the temple. That’s kind enough.” I hung up and was unable to move. It’s a life. Can it be treated badly just because it’s abandoned?

The abandoned baby was held by several nuns to keep warm in their room. These nuns are all grandmothers of their own grandchildren. They came here to be nuns for unknown reasons. Though they are old, they have just lately begun to shave their heads. The abandoned baby was lying on the bed with one of the nuns and was hungrily drinking the milk.

An old nun who has no teeth left pointed to the baby and said: “This is the bean milk that the man who is keeping the King Palace brought to the baby. You see, she has a good appetite, doesn’t she”? “Bean milk? Isn’t there a half bag of milk powder”? I asked. “That man said that bean milk has more nutrition than milk powder,” answered the nun. How ridiculous it is. The nun was going to argue with me. Seeing the happy face that the baby girl had when she was drinking the bean milk, I gave up defending myself with this old nun who just shaved her head and couldn’t speak clearly. In the evening, I went to the old nun’s room to see the baby girl and told them again that the baby girl should be sent to the orphanage. I had a bad feeling this time. I could not turn my eyes off the abandoned baby and repeated that she should be taken good care of. When I was about to leave, there came a senior secular who submitted to Buddhist discipline while still wearing her hair. She appeared very smart and capable. Her husband has retired and teaches at the temple. Our teacher’s wife went along with her husband and is working in the temple now, being the attendant of the service department here. She holds Buddhist sutras every day. Though she came here for the Buddhist discipline, she cared for everything and gave her opinions as she wanted. Thus, in order to avoid a confrontation with her, I didn’t say anything more and left the abandoned baby girl and went back to my room.

In the early morning the next day, after finishing the courses, I went to see the baby girl. The old nun stood in front of the door, and said to me smilingly, “Someone came from outside and took the baby girl.” “Was it the welfare institute”? I asked. She replied “If it’s the welfare, we have to pay 400 RMB for the baby’s living expenses per month. This time the person asked for no money”. Then I felt worried. “What on earth is that guy? How come the welfare institute would charge money for keeping an abandoned baby? You must have misunderstood.” “It’s true that the welfare institute charges money. Last year when they took away another abandoned baby, I saw the abbot give them some money. Now it’s better this time. That guy asked for no money.” I asked again, “Where did the guy come from?” “They were very nice to send a car to take the baby.” She had few teeth in her mouth and it’s really hard to understand what she had said. “Who told that guy?” “It was the teacher’s wife. She is very capable. Soon after she promised to ask someone to adopt the baby, she made a phone call and then came the guy immediately. She is really capable.” Watching the nun, I knew that she could not tell give any useful information. According to my limited experience, I guessed that that guy must have come from the welfare institute. The nun might not know it. So I thought that the baby girl must have been in the welfare institute. Before I fell to sleep, I was thinking that someday when the baby girl has grown up, I would take her as my disciple.”

The weather in the north is variable. A few days later, a cold current approached. The monk students all put on their winter clothes. The maple leaves in the temple were hit by the frost and fell to the floor. I was busy with my courses during these few days and almost forgot the baby girl who was abandoned by her mother. Days went as usual. Visitors came and went. Smart sparrows had their nest built on the roof beam of the Jade Buddhist Palace and fed their children there.

One day at noon, my monk tutor and Mr. Sun, the driver, came to the Buddhist College. A truck came along with them, and it was full of juice drinks which were put in some boxes. They were for the monk students. When waiting for the abbot, they were chatting with each other. I was busy washing an apple for my tutor. Suddenly, I heard them say that a baby died. It caused my attention. “Why did you say that a baby died? What is it about?” Then the room became silent. Mr. Sun said, “It was the abandoned baby girl who you called and asked to send back last time.” I felt shocked. “Wasn’t she sent to the welfare institute? Why was she still in the temple?”

My heart broke. Mr. Sun continued, “There is no welfare institute in such a small town. Someone here called the monk tutor saying that the Buddhist College wanted us to take the baby away. Our tutor is the senior director of the association. He would definitely do the favor for the Buddhist College. So I drove here early that morning and took the baby away. I gave her to the tutor and he even praised that the baby was so cute. He couldn’t decide whether to keep it or not, so he asked the two old nuns who do the cooking in the temple to take care of the baby. The baby was put on the bed and no one kept an eye on her. A few days later, she died.” I got angry. “How come she died a few days later? I checked the baby and she was healthy. Was she suffocated by the quilt?” “There was no quilt. It was just a small piece of rag. She couldn’t have suffocated”. I raised my voice, “Did anybody send her to the hospital immediately? What was the cause of her death?” “When the old nun held the baby later, she was already dead. The nun was shaking and crying. She was about to send the baby to the hospital. But when I got there and touched the baby, I knew it was too late, so we didn’t send her to the hospital. Honestly, I am already the father of two children. I have some experience. The baby must have died from the cold.”

“She was just a few days old and needed to be kept warm by somebody. The old nun had her own business. She did not have time to feed her or change the diaper for her, causing her to stay wet. And there was no quilt. She was meant to die. The major reason was because she was an abandoned baby. Who would like to take care of her?” I asked, “Why not send her to the welfare institute? Why would you take her? Weren’t you afraid of the search by the Family Planning?” Mr. Sun lowed down his head and said a moment later, “The tutor is the director of the association. We have to respect him. I did tell the tutor not to keep the baby, but the tutor praised that the baby girl was cute, and she would grow up to be a beautiful lady if she was to be brought up by the nuns. So she stayed. After the baby died, the nuns only kept crying. It’s me who is so smart to send the baby to the mountain behind the temple. I bought her a small coffin which cost me 10 RMB, and then 20 RMB more to have her buried. In the evening, the temple prayed for the baby for free and gave her a memorial tablet writing ‘Nameless Baby.’ We’ve done what we could”.

The tutor was eating the apple and appeared kindly.

I could not say a word and had tears rolling down.

Coming to the Buddhist College, I had longed to learn the Buddhist doctrine in order to save the misery of people in this world. I was active in the class and recited the lection by heart. I gave speeches passionately! I was ambitious and full of hope. Every day I was ready to graduate from the Buddhist College and begin my salvation through charity to people in the miserable world. Every time I came into someone, “Amitabha Buddha” is what I said.

Poor baby girl! How many good deeds have you done to come into this world. Unfortunately, you chose the wrong mother, a woman who just abandoned you. Worse still, you were born in the wrong time, even the temple, which was supposed to be your best chance, but that could not save your life. This is what you’ve gone through.—been to this world for little more than 20 days. You died so quickly. Maybe you had done something wrong in your last life, and this life you had to pay back. Hope that you, a nameless baby, learn under the ground what had happened to you, and don’t come to this world once again.

http://www.lingshh.com/4-a/4-20.htm