Fuzhou SWI in Jiangxi province

(photo: research-china .org)

This is Jiangxi province. I would consider it much like a state here in the US. As you can see by the size it is pretty big! I found some information at the China Culture.org site which was interesting.

Jiangxi Province lies in the southeastern part of China, on the southern bank of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Situated 24"29"-30"05" north latitude and 113"34"-118"28" east longitude, it has an area of more than 160,000 square kilometers. It is bordered by hills and mountains, with the land generally sloping towards the Poyang Lake in the north. Hills and mountains exceed 60% of the province's total area, mainly lying in the west, east and south.


Climate


Jiangxi has a sub-tropical climate, warm and humid. It has a mean annual temperature of 16oC-20oC -- the hottest month, July, averaging 28-30oC and the coldest month, January, 4-9oC -- and a mean annual precipitation of 1,300-1,800 mm.


Administrative Division and Population


It is divided into 11 prefecture-level cities, 10 county-level cities and 70 counties, with a population of 41,40 million by 2000, mainly ethnic groups of Han, Miao, Hui, Yao and She.


Food


Crunchy candy, stone fish, rock tripe, and chukar, etc.


Culture


Ganju (Jiangxi Opera), Tea-Picking Opera


Brief Introduction


Jiangxi (literally means west of river), called Gan for short, lies to the south of the Yangtze River valley, and is named for being situated west of the Ganjiang River.


Jiangxi Province is rich in mineral deposits. Tungsten ore, copper ore, lead ore, zinc ore, and rock salt are the main minerals in the province. It is a major producer of rice, mandarin orange, tea and freshwater fish. The province is also famous for its local traditional products: china made in Jingdezhen, porcelain pictures made in Nanchang, Qianshan bamboo handcraft, tealeaves from Lushan Mountain, and bamboo shoots in Jinggang Mountain, etc.


Jiangxi Province has many beautiful mountains, rivers and historical relics. Lushan Mountain, Sanqing Mountain, and Longhu Mountain are among the most famous mountains in China. It is a province with glorious revolutionary history; its places of historic interest include Jinggang Mountain, Ruijin, Nanchang and Anyuan. Lushan Mountain, famous for its elegance, steepness and oddness, with its main peak at 1,474 meters above sea level on the lakeshore, is a famous tourist spot. The Bailu Academy was one of the Four Great Academies of Classical Learning in the past.


The highlight of Jiangxi travel should be Jingdezhen, which is known as the "Capital of Porcelain" in China. Porcelains were produced here as early as 1,800 years ago in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220). Today, Jingdezhen remains a national center of porcelain production.

The Fuzhou SWI




Baby girl is not residing here at the moment. She is in foster-care. I do not know if she lived here when she was first found or if she went into foster-care right away. I am hoping to get more updated information within the next few weeks. This is the information I was able to locate on it from research-china.org.


The main orphanage facility houses the administrative offices and conference room. The actual baby area is in a white building directly to the north. On the ground floor is located the rooms for the older kids, as well as a Half-the-Sky preschool. It appears well equiped and well used. The infants are cared for on the second level in five baby rooms, each room housing nine or ten children, each with their own crib. The cribs are metal pipe construction, painted blue. Each has a small blanket. All the cribs are clustered in the middle of the room, with a walking space around the group so that the caregivers can easily reach each child.



But only a small portion of the children actually stay in the orphanage — mostly the older kids and special needs. Infants are here when they first arrive, and for a short time before adoption. The orphanage actually has over 450 children, with over 400 in foster care at any one time. There are more than 250 foster families in the program. The foster program costs the orphanage about 200,000 yuan each month, or about 500 rmb ($62) per child.



The current facility was constructed in June 2000. Prior to that the orphanage was located in Linchuan, about 5 miles away. That facility is no longer standing, and is now just a vacant lot. The orphanage program started in Fuzhou in 1968, and the first international adoptions began in 1993. So far over 700 children have been adopted outside China, 70% to the U.S.



Fuzhou City SWI is the largest adoption orphanage in Jiangxi Province. The orphanage receives "feeder" children from the Linchuan orphanage (a.k.a. "Fuzhou Second"). Children transferred between the orphanages are given the middle name of "Chuan."



Director:
The current director of the Fuzhou orphanage is Zhou You Ping.

Next week I will be trying to add to this information. It is important that I find as much as possible to save for the day when baby girl is ready to learn about her birthplace.