I won't pretend to be an expert on the subject, as it's very complex and easy to misread, but my sister is a Chinese adoptee and she and I spent time volunteering in her orphanage for a few days last summer.
Your protagonist is likely to spend her childhood and teenage years in a welfare institute, which generally act as both an orphanage and a nursing home for elderly and disabled citizens. She will have been given a surname by the director of the institute, though her biological parents may have left a note with her indicating her first name. If she was lucky, there is the possibility that she might have spent time in foster care or have been adopted by a Chinese family, as the government has begun to encourage internal adoption as opposed to foreign. Many orphans work at the welfare institute they grew up at after they reach the age of majority; others leave and try to find employment elsewhere.
The Lost Daughters of China by Karin Evans isn't a bad book, but like most of the material about orphans in China, it comes from the perspective of a Westerner and is aimed towards potential adoptive parents.
Obviously I'd suggest doing more research on your own about China in general to avoid accidental racefail, but I hope that gives you a good starting point.
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Date: 2012-11-28 02:59 am (UTC)Your protagonist is likely to spend her childhood and teenage years in a welfare institute, which generally act as both an orphanage and a nursing home for elderly and disabled citizens. She will have been given a surname by the director of the institute, though her biological parents may have left a note with her indicating her first name. If she was lucky, there is the possibility that she might have spent time in foster care or have been adopted by a Chinese family, as the government has begun to encourage internal adoption as opposed to foreign. Many orphans work at the welfare institute they grew up at after they reach the age of majority; others leave and try to find employment elsewhere.
The Lost Daughters of China by Karin Evans isn't a bad book, but like most of the material about orphans in China, it comes from the perspective of a Westerner and is aimed towards potential adoptive parents.
Obviously I'd suggest doing more research on your own about China in general to avoid accidental racefail, but I hope that gives you a good starting point.