AdoptionTalk: Join the Wall!

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Join the Wall!

The group United Chinese in America is putting up a wall of photos of Chinese in America for the American Pavilion at the World Expo in Shanghai. They will accept photos through October 31, but do it now! You can upload a photo at their website, and include your child's Chinese surname by typing in the pinyin and picking the Chinese character, which you can find on your child's Chinese paperwork if you don't know it by memory. My kids' Chinese surname is Jin, and that little house-like character in the red box is Jin! All the Jins will be grouped together on the wall, and I'd love it if other orphanage Jins (Guiping SWI) were there. You can leave a comment about what it means to your children to be Chinese. Everything else in Chinese is from drop-down menus, so it is easy-breezy.

And you can easily capture these cool photos with captions!

8 comments:

Jeff and Madeline said...: Thanks Malinda! M is on the wall!; May 5, 2010 at 11:40 AM
Mei Ling said...: 好可愛...; May 5, 2010 at 12:02 PM
Mei Ling said...: 我不是美國人... -_-

不公平!; May 5, 2010 at 12:06 PM
a Tonggu Momma said...: Our daughter's surname is not included in the drop-down list. I think there are probably several of us in the same boat. Learning that? Was frustrating.; May 5, 2010 at 2:36 PM
travelmom and more said...: I haven't looked but I doubt my daughter's surname is on the list, her orphanage gave the children the name of the village for a period of time. This village name will forever mark her as an orphan if she decides to use this name in China. Her SWI has changed this naming practice I believe the CCAA has required that children in orphanages be given "normal" surnames.; May 5, 2010 at 3:31 PM
mama d said...: We're also in the "not on drop-down menu" boat. Frustrating is one word to describe it. Heartbreaking another.; May 5, 2010 at 8:08 PM
Jeff and Madeline said...: I was going to go back and change M's family name to her real family name--I had her orphanage last name in there. It is not in the box either. I wonder if it has something to do with being a minority?; May 5, 2010 at 8:16 PM
malinda said...: I, too, would be frustrated if my girls' Chinese surname wasn't on the list, but I'm sure not all Chinese surnames are on the list (Wendy's comment confirms this). Is there some other Chinese surname, one meaningful to your family, whose "family" you'd be delighted to have your child profiled with? I thought for a while of having Maya listed as "Chen," her foster mother's surname, and I probably would have done that if my girls' didn't have the same surname since they're from the same orphanage. I even checked out Gan, the orphanage director's surname.

I know these are all a far second best suggestion, but your child's new surname would be listed, and then she'd be shown with some other Chinese surname that is meaningful.

Is it possible to submit the form with that field blank?; May 5, 2010 at 8:47 PM