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

our beautiful children in the first place, has become instrumental in making this

trip possible. What more could we ask for?

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

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

My China Heritage

Adventure

2018

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

When I get back home, I am going to tell my friends that

being in China was ______________________________.

Some things I really missed about my home are

______________________________________________

______________________________________________

If I ever return to China, I would like to

______________________________________________

______________________________________________

The names and addresses of the special friends I made:

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

Leaving Home

I left the United States on ________________, ____.

I traveled with my family members who included

_________________________________________

_________________________________________.

I arrived in China on ___________________.

The plane ride was ___________________________.

I felt __________________________about the trip.

I think the things I will see in China are

___________________________________________

___________________________________________

.

I am most excited about _____________________

________________________________________________.

2018 THE YEAR OF TH E D OG

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

Pictures of and Thoughts about

My China Heritage Adventure

My First Day in China

______________________________ 2018.

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 and Yangshuo

Guilin is a beautiful city in Guangxi Province. The town 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.

China

I Discovered These Things About

My Chinese Heritage

___________________________________

___________________________________

___________________________________

___________________________________

___________________________________

___________________________________

___________________________________

___________________________________

___________________________________

___________________________________

___________________________________

___________________________________

___________________________________

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

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 _________________

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

.

Here is a paper cutting or picture that I made.

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 _______________________

______________________________________________.

I felt _________________________________________

______________________________________________.

I saw and met _________________________________

______________________________________________.

The best thing about the visit was __________________

______________________________________________.

I didn’t like ____________________________________

______________________________________________.

My favorite things I saw and did in Beijing were _____________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________.

My least favorite things I saw and did were________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________.

What I Learned and Liked

about Beijing 北京

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.

My Visit to Where I Lived

When My Family Adopted Me

Here is a picture of me in the city I was found.

China Favorites

My favorite Chinese foods I had were_________________

_______________________________________________.

My favorite places to visit were______________________

_______________________________________________.

My favorite people I met were ______________________

_______________________________________________.

My favorite day was when I ________________________

_______________________________________________.

My favorite funny moment was _____________________

_______________________________________________.

My favorite city was ______________________________.

My favorite Chinese word was ______________________.

Facts About China China is the third largest country in the world.

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..

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..

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.

China has 1.3 billion people..