Elderly Chinese woman spreads cheer

Tuesday, April 3, 2006, 5:29 p.m.

By Terry R. Cassreino

NANCHANG, China - The elderly Chinese woman stopped, walked over to the little girl on the bench, bent down at the waste, looked into her eyes and smiled.
The woman stood, looked at the girl’s mom, spoke Mandarin and laughed. Then she flashed a thumbs-up, fully aware that the American woman was adopting the baby girl.
The mom was my wife, Pam, the baby was our new daughter, Camryn. Pam and Camryn were sitting on a bench just off the People’s Square downtown; I was standing nearby.
We were far from alone.
A steady stream of business people, parents and children enjoyed the cool mid-morning breeze and a break from the hectic pace of life in this city of 4 million.
Most of the people knew we were here to adopt a child. And as strange as it was to see an American couple in a major Chinese city with a Chinese child, they accepted us.

Downtown trip

Our visit downtown began after a short trip up the street from our hotel, the Gloria Plaza Hotel on the banks of the Gan River. Pam and I had decided to take Camryn for a walk.
After walking about a block, we decided to strike out on our own and head for the Wal-Mart SuperCenter to buy baby supplies.
We’ve felt at ease in China ever since we arrived March 28 in Beijing, so a taxi ride into town was no big deal. Besides, we had to visit Nanchang’s Wal-Mart.
Call it what you want: strange, bizarre or a total waste of time. But Pam and I call our trips to Wal-Mart, to department stores and to grocery stores an educational experience.
Think about it: Where else can you go in a foreign country to get a better taste of a region’s culture and what’s important to the people who live there?
And with Wal-Mart’s familiarity back home, Pam and I find it interesting to look at the similarities as well as the distinct differences between China and United States stores.

Camryn’s experience

Anyway, I digress. We took Camryn, hopped into a taxi and spent a couple of hours exploring Wal-Mart and downtown.
Our trip to Wal-Mart also gave us a chance to see if Camryn would take to shopping carts. She did, sitting in the seat and quietly enjoying the ride until she quickly fell asleep, her body slumped over and eyes closed.
At that point she moved to my shoulders, then to Pam’s baby carrier - before ending up on Pam’s lap later outside Wal-Mart on the bench near the People’s Square.
And that led to the elderly woman’s visit. Like many people in China, she was well aware of efforts to save China’s “lost daughters” - children caught by the one-child policy.
But with the country’s limited space and the number of residents growing rapidly, what else can China do? That’s why Chinese people seem so genuinely excited about adoptions.
In fact, Chinese people often stop new parents on the street.
A lot of Chinese don’t speak English, but that’s OK. All they have to do is flash a smile and give a thumbs-up - just like the elderly lady we saw on the People’s Square.

Photos and text copyright 2006 by Terry R. Cassreino.