While we wait for our daughter’s full referral and pictures we’ve undertaken to find out a little bit more about where she comes from. Here’s the low down:
Guangdong (廣東) province is located on the south coast of the People’s Republic of China. The word Guang means expanse or vast and Dong means east - expanse east. It is the most populous province in China with approximately 80 million people and a further 30 million migrant workers. It is also among the richest
provinces in the country, boasting the highest GDP, estimated to be $329.67 billion in 2006. Its contribution to China’s national economic output is approximately 12%. The province is populated predominantly by Cantonese speakers.
The province’s northern border is defined by a collection of mountain ranges called the Southern Mountain Range (南岭); its southern border faces the South China Sea with a total of 4,300km of coastline. In the southwestern end of the province there are a few inactive volcanoes on the Leizhou Peninsula. China’s third largest river, the Pearl River (珠江), at 2,200km, runs through Guangdong, emptying into the South China Sea between Hong Kong and Macau. The river is formed by the convergence of the Xi Jiang ("the West River"), the Bei Jiang ("the North River"), and the Dong Jiang ("the East River")
Guangdong has a humid subtropical climate (tropical in the far south), with short, mild, dry, winters and long, hot, wet summers. Humidex aside, average daily highs in Guangzhou in January and July are 18C (64F) and 33C (91F) respectively. Bad news for mom!
A few random facts:
• Most of the railroad labourers in Canada, Western United States and Panama in the 19th century came from Guangdong.
• The SARS virus is thought to have originated in Guangdong, due to the cuisine of the region, which famously includes "anything that walks, crawls or flies". Lookin’ forward to it!
• There is an international radio station, Radio Guangdong, which broadcasts information about this region to the entire world through the World Radio Network.
• Guangdong has a basketball team, the Guangdong Hongyuan Southern Tigers, and two football teams, the Guangzhou Yiyao and the Shenzhen Shangqingyin.
Our Daughter's OrphanageRight now our daughter is in the Siu Xi County Social Welfare Institute in the pr
efecture, or administrative unit, of Zhanjiang City – the equivalent of our daughter living in a suburb of Toronto.
Siu Xi County Social Welfare InstituteWen Dong Road, Sui Cheng TownSui Xi County, Guangdong ProvinceChina
Postal Code: 524300
Click here to see where her orphanage is: http://www.redthreadmaps.com/guangdong_m.html
Zhangjiang
Zhanjiang is located on an inlet of the South China Sea on the eastern coast of the Leizhou Peninsula at the point where the three rivers that form the Pearl River converge. The dialect of Leizhou is different from Cantonese and is called Min Nan. This dialect seems to be closer to Taiwanese and is not mutually interchangeable with Cantonese (dammit!). It has a population of 6.57 million.
Zhanjiang was occupied by the French in 1898. At the time it was a small fishing village that the French wanted to develop as a port to serve parts of southern China for which France had exclusie rights to railway and mineral development. In 1899, the French forced the Chinese to lease Zhanjiang to them for 99 years as the territory of Kwang-Chou-Wan. Their efforts to develop the port however, were hindered by the poverty of the surrounding land. The French retained control of the region until 1943, when the Japanese occupied the area during World War II. At the end of the war the region returned briefly under French rule before being formally returned to China in 1946, at which time its original name of Zhanjiang was restored.
Today Zhanjiang is a seaport and trade centre. The city supports many varied industries including shipyards, textile plants and sugar refining. It is a large mining and mineral exploration region and the port gateway to some of the largest agricultural producing areas in Southern China.
The port is also the headquarters of the South Sea Fleet of the Chinese Navy.
t be traveling to Suixi to meet our daughter and see the people and place where she spent the first year of her life. Instead, Elan will be brought to us in the capital of Guangdong Province, Guanzhou. Guangdong Province requires that adoptive families spend a week and a half in the province (more paperwork) so we are hoping that during that time we will receive permission to visit the county of Suixi as well as her orphanage and finding spot. We have been able to find a few pictures of her orphanage on the Internet. The play room looks clean and bright!
s excitedly if a toy rattle was shaken. At 3-4 months she was able to roll onto her stomach and could move herself to the side of her crib where she would reach across to try and touch the baby in the adjoining crib. At 5-6 months she was grasping objects tightly and watching the going-ons around her. At six months she weighed in at 15.4 pounds and was 26.2 inches.
s a fan of dim sum and prefers her food a little sweet in taste. She is her baba’s daughter! Her favorite toys are a rattle and blocks and her favorite activity is playing with other people. A good sign we think!
provinces in the country, boasting the highest GDP, estimated to be $329.67 billion in 2006. Its contribution to China’s national economic output is approximately 12%. The province is populated predominantly by Cantonese speakers.
efecture, or administrative unit, of Zhanjiang City – the equivalent of our daughter living in a suburb of Toronto.
Today Zhanjiang is a seaport and trade centre. The city supports many varied industries including shipyards, textile plants and sugar refining. It is a large mining and mineral exploration region and the port gateway to some of the largest agricultural producing areas in Southern China.
