The Lost Daughters of China: Abandoned Girls, Their Journey to America, and the Search for a Missing Past

In a personal and journalistic exploration of the thousands of baby girls whoare abandoned in China each year, Evans links the lives of a Chinese baby, anadoptive American mother, and a Chinese mother hidden in the shadows.

A personal and journalistic exploration of American and Chinese culture at a unique point of intersection: the thousands of baby girls who are abandoned in one country each year and adopted in the other.

Today Karin Evans is the mother of Kelly, a thriving Chinese-American toddler. But two years ago, her daughter was one of the hundreds of thousands of infant girls abandoned in orphanages all over China. The story of how Kelly came to be there is rooted deep in China's history, in an ancient political, economic, and cultural preference for baby boys that began in the time of Confucius and was still going strong when China's notorious one-child policy was introduced in the 1980s.

Through extensive research combined with the moving account of bringing Kelly home, Evans investigates the conditions that engendered generations of abandoned girls in China and a legacy of lost women. She provides insight into the historic place of sons and daughters in the Chinese family, the philosophical underpinnings of filial piety, as well as the selective abortions and other desperate acts undertaken by contemporary families convinced of the need for a son to perpetuate the family line. In this eloquent journalistic memoir, Evans compellingly links the lives of an abandoned Chinese baby girl, an adoptive American mother, and a Chinese mother hidden in the shadows.

"Not only an evocative memoir on East-West adoption but a bridge to East-West understanding of human rights in China." Amy Tan

Lyrically written, precisely observed and emotionally evocative...Evans is simply dazzling." Tim Cahill