Dear Heritage Trip Families,

Returning to the birthplace of our children, China, is a wonderful opportunity! In many cases, this is the first time we have been back, as a family, to experience the culture, arts, traditions, and daily life of people so similar to our children. Together as a family, we can honor the Asian heritage of our adopted children in the land in which they were born. China, who allowed us to adopt My China Heritage our beautiful children in the first place, has become instrumental in making this trip possible. What more could we ask for? Adventure As a parent of three children adopted from China and two children by birth, I was so excited for the chance to be a part of this adventure. My three daughters were very excited at the possibilities. They talked about it for months – seeing 2019 the Great Wall, eating authentic foods, holding baby pandas, and going on a river cruise! What they didn’t talk much about was their feelings about coming back to a place that may have held some more difficult memories, conscious or unconscious. While I tried to open up discussions about visiting birth places, abandonment sites, orphanages, and foster parents, they seemed to avoid expressing themselves or say things that led me to believe that they did not quite have a full understanding about this part of the trip.

I wanted to figure out some way to help my daughters talk about not only the fun, cultural part of the trip, but also their feelings and thoughts about the harder things. For this reason, I created this little book. It was my attempt to open up communication with my daughters. While they had a fun guide to record their thoughts and feelings about China as a beautiful country, they could also integrate their feelings about visiting their birth place.

We are sharing a copy of the book to you as our gift, from a fellow CCAI adoptive family. We hope you enjoy it, and your family can use it as a tool for some great, heartfelt discussions.

P.S. The 2011 Heritage Trip far exceeded our expectations! I know it will surpass yours, as well.

Nancy Fontaine, Ph.D. and Jenna Cavano (age 10) from Pingnan, Guangxi; Wren Cavano (age 9) from Chengdu, Sichuan; and Carolina Cavano (age 8) from Liuzhou, Guangxi

A picture of me in China.

My Name:

My Chinese Name: A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Confucius

Returning Home Leaving Home

When I get back home, I am going to tell my friends that I left the United States on ______, ____. being in China was ______. I traveled with my family members who included Some things I really missed about my home are ______.

If I ever return to China, I would like to I arrived in China on ______. ______The plane ride was ______. ______

The names and addresses of the special friends I made: I felt ______about the trip. ______

______I think the things I will see in China are ______. ______I am most excited about ______. ______

2019 Pictures of and Thoughts about My China Heritage Adventure THE YEAR OF THE PIG

I was born in ______, the Year of the ______.

Draw a picture of the animal in the

Pictures of and Thoughts about My China Heritage Adventure My First Day in China

______2019.

The name of our group is ______.

Our leader’s name is ______.

I became friends with ______.

We went to see ______

______

I thought the sites were ______

______.

That night we ______.

After seeing the sites, I felt______

______.

China Interesting Things I Saw and Did

What I liked most ______What I didn’t like very much______

What I Learned and Liked About Guilin China and Yangshuo I Discovered These Things About Guilin is a beautiful city in Guangxi Province. The town My Chinese Heritage center is surrounded by two rivers and four lakes and studded with sheer sided karst mountains. A picture of ______one river, the Li River, is printed on the back of Chinese 20-yuan bill. A riverboat cruises down to Yangshuo, ______small county downstream from Guilin. ______

A karst mountain is made up of ______. ______A site I saw in Guilin is ______. ______A site I saw along the Li River is ______. ______A site I saw in Yangshuo is ______. ______The best part of Guilin, the Li River, and Yangshuo is ______.

______karst— limestone landscape, characterized by caves, fissures, and ______underground streams.

Pandas

The pandas were ______. Pandas eat ______. Some pandas are not black and white, they are ______. Baby pandas are ______.

A picture of a panda I saw

What I Learned and Liked about Chengdu

Some things I learned about Chengdu are ______

______

______

______

______

______.

“tea”

China is known for its tea. Southwest China is where tea was first found. At first, tea was used as medicine. During the Chun Qiu Period (770 BC - 476 BC), Chinese people chewed tea leaves and enjoyed the taste of tea juice itself.

There are 8 main kinds of Chinese tea: green, oolong, black, red, white, yellow, flower, and compressed. Some teas have unique names like Dragon Well, Spring Snail, Iron Goddess, Fur Peak, Silver Needle, Monkey King, Cloud and Fog, and Sweet Dew Sichuan Gan Lu .

What kind of tea do you like? ______

Here is some Chinese brush writing that I learned to do.

What I Learned and Liked about Xi'an Here is a paper cutting or picture that I made. The Wild Goose Pagoda has ______levels.

The Tang Dynasty Show was a great event. I ate about ______dumplings! My favorite ones were ______

______.

The Terra Cotta Warriors were ______

______..

They were ordered to be built by ______.

What I liked in Xi'an ______

______.

______.

What I didn’t like very much in Xi’An ______

______

______

.

My Visit to Where I Lived

When My Family Adopted Me 家庭内 Family

My family and I went to ______, where I lived and to ______, where I was found. We traveled there by ______.

I thought it was going to be ______My favorite things I saw and did in Beijing were ______. ______I felt ______. ______

I saw and met ______.

______. My least favorite things I saw and did were______

The best thing about the visit was ______

______. ______I didn’t like ______. ______.

What I Learned and Liked My Visit to Where I Lived about Beijing 北京 When My Family Adopted Me

Beijing has ______people.

When I climbed the Great Wall I ______.

______

At the Summer Palace I saw ______.

At the Forbidden City I saw ______.

In 2008, the ______were held in Beijing.

This site is built in the shape of a ______.

My favorite part of the acrobat show was ______

______.

______is buried in Tiananman Square. Here is a picture of me in the city I was found.

China Favorites Facts About China  China is the third largest country in the world. My favorite Chinese foods I had were______ Beijing is the capital of China.  China has 23 provinces (like our states), 5 municipalities, ______. and 5 autonomous regions.  China is home to 56 different nationalities.  Most people are of the Han culture.. My favorite places to visit were______ Mandarin Chinese is the main language spoken, but all of ______. the nationalities has their own language.  Another language spoken in such provinces as Guangxi is

Cantonese Chinese.. My favorite people I met were ______ There are over 1,500 rivers in China. ______.  The Chinese alphabet has 60,000 characters. English has 26.  China is home to the ‘ginkgo,’ which is most likely the oldest species of tree in the world. My favorite day was when I ______ China has 1.3 billion people.. ______.

My favorite funny moment was ______.

My favorite city was ______.

My favorite Chinese word was ______.