Page 1 of 2 1 2 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 18
  1. #1
    Kimberly H Guest

    Default National Geo special "China's Lost Girls"

    Sunday at 8pm ET National Geographic's Ultimate Explorer show is "Lost Girls of China" From what I can tell from the promos, it looks like they spend at least some time in Hefei (where we met our Mia) and they might have even done some filming at the hotel where we stayed.

    I've read some warnings on message boards that it's not going to be a warm and fuzzy show and Mia will not be watching it, at least not until I see it first and can screen it.

    Here's the link to the site: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ul...lostgirls.html

  2. #2
    hjdong Guest

    Default RE: National Geo special "China's Lost Girls"

    We don't have t.v. (kind of temporarily) but we definately won't have it in time for this. I'm very curious, mostly because some group was going to be filming at the Consulate the day after our adoption ceremony (I'm very curious to see if the consulate changed how they did things at all for the show - for instance, after making people waiting for months and months, herding them into a small room, and then taking five seconds for the ceremony - o.k. I exaggerate and I suppose if it was a long deal, I wouldn't have been happy either - but it was somewhat anti-climatic). Anway, I'm rambling - I would like a review after you see it. If you could pay particular attention to when it was filmed, I would appreciate it. Thanks,

  3. #3
    Kimberly H Guest

    Default RE: National Geo special "China's Lost Girls"

    Holly, someone on APC posted it's a GWCA group that National Geo followed and I'll definitely post a review as well as any info about the filming that I have. They might have some dates on the site or on APC if the people who participated belong.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    California
    Posts
    22,684

    Default RE: National Geo special "China's Lost Girls"

    We watched this last night and thought it was very interesting. They basically followed a travel group on their trip and mixed in interviews with Chinese people about the one-child policy, etc. It was a little weird for me having just gotten our referral for a boy since the show was really just about the girls.

  5. #5
    hjdong Guest

    Default RE: National Geo special "China's Lost Girls"

    You'll fnd that about a lot of things. For instance, we got the book, "When I was Born in China" prior to getting Jamie. Well, it basically (nicely) says babies are given up because they are girls - I don't think that explanation will fly for our boys! I think the population of boys is going up, so maybe some of this will start to change.

  6. #6
    Melanie is offline Red Diamond level (10,000+ posts)
    Join Date
    Feb 2002
    Location
    USA.
    Posts
    11,808

    Default RE: National Geo special "China's Lost Girls"

    I missed it!

    Anyway, can we talk about the one-child policy and girls? A college professor told me once that he felt (or read or whatever) that the reason for the large population of girls in the orphanages was because, traditionally, in China the eldest male took care of the parents in their old age - there is no equivalent to our social security. So, therefore, the families wanted boys. To those of you with indepth personal knowledge, would you say this was, in part, true? I hope this does not come across as insensitive, I do not mean it to be. I realize it also may be a sweeping generalization, but I have been curious if his hypothesis had any merit to it.

    TIA

  7. #7
    hjdong Guest

    Default RE: National Geo special "China's Lost Girls"

    Thia is more or less true. Traditionally, girls go to live with their in-laws. You are considered to be "raising another families' child." (this is from my step-MIL, 1st generation - not her opinion, just her experience from China). In fact, she told us that there used to be a lot of intra-country adoption in China but people would only adopt boys and they would more or less be treated as slaves.

    Anyway, it varies from area to area. More rural areas are allowed two children (if they have a girl first to try for a boy). The orphanage that Jamie was from was in a major city surrounded by rural areas (the last city before the Himalyans and for hundreds of miles around, the only city). Anyway, this orphanage has, for China, a high percentage of boys (30% overall, 50% toddlers/babies and the girls abandoned are mostly toddlers. The opinion there as to the reason for this is as follows: people who are allowed two children want a boy and a girl. If they have a girl, and then another girl, they may keep the two girls until they have a boy. If they have two boys, they will abandon the baby boy in order to try for a girl. It sounds very cold I'm sure but girls have become prized now in China because so few people can afford to have one (in terms of retirement).

    Keep in mind that although this is a "Communist" country - everything costs money. In fact, our Jamie was most likely abandoned because he was born premature and his parents could not afford medical care (he was left outside a hospital). Even to go to the park costs money.

    There is a book called "Wanting a Daughter, Needing a Son" that goes into a lot of this.

    HTH,

  8. #8
    Kimberly H Guest

    Default RE: National Geo special "China's Lost Girls"

    Melanie, it's coming on again on Saturday at 8pm on MSNBC. I think it's a great watch if you're at all interested in adoption or China.

    ETA: The room they showed at The White Swan Hotel looked *exactly* like ours, down the the style of crib. It was so eerie.

  9. #9
    Melanie is offline Red Diamond level (10,000+ posts)
    Join Date
    Feb 2002
    Location
    USA.
    Posts
    11,808

    Default RE: National Geo special "China's Lost Girls"

    THanks Kimberly...I'll set my TiVo

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    California
    Posts
    22,684

    Default RE: National Geo special "China's Lost Girls"

    Thanks for the great response on this issue. It's interesting that your son was premature--ours was too. I've been thinking about the possibility that his mother wasn't married or that he was an unintended second or third child and his family couldn't afford the fines and/or run the risks of losing their home, jobs and so on.

Page 1 of 2 1 2 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •