(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-05-23 00:08

But that hasn't dissuaded some Chinese, some of whom have "harassed" the civil affairs officials, others of whom have posted messages online expressing ardent hopes to adopt an orphan.

In Beijing alone, more than 3,000 citizens have expressed interest, according to Wu Shimin, director of the Beijing Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau, who said local authorities will offer allowances for families that adopt quake orphans.

"As the capital, Beijing will do the best in this regard," he said.

EAGER TO SHOW LOVE

To 33-year-old Zhang Baoshou, a middle school teacher in Xingping, in the northwestern Shaanxi Province, adopting a 2-year-old orphan girl from the quake area was not merely talk.

"My wife, also a teacher, has been dialing the two hotlines provided by the Sichuan Provincial Civil Affairs Department all day long in the past several days. But she never got through," he complained. "Too many people have the same idea."

Zhang said his mother was a native of Sichuan, which neighbors Shaanxi, and he has a special love for Sichuan.

"Seeing so many people dead in the devastating earthquake, I couldn't help but cry. I must do something besides donating money, " he said.

His thoughts were echoed by his wife. The couple then consulted their 6-year-old boy.

"The little guy was excited to hear that. Now, he asks me every day 'when will my little sister come to our family? I want to go to kindergarten together with her'," Zhang said.

Under Chinese law, adoptive parents must be capable of rearing and educating the adoptee and be aged at least 35.

Zhang said although he's not a millionaire, it will be "no problem at all" to raise a second child.

"My parents also supported our decision. They have offered to take care of the children if we are too busy," he said.

But another requirement of the law is that adopters must be childless, which means Zhang's family doesn't qualify.

Zhang still held hopes that civil affairs authorities would be flexible.

"My wife and I are both teachers, which ensures an excellent family background," he said. "All my family members will give their warmest love to the child we adopt, that is the most important thing."

He said that his wife was writing an application letter to be mailed to the Sichuan Provincial Department of Civil Affairs, expressing their strong wishes to adopt.

"We have drafted a general plan to raise the child. We will take her to the best schools in our city and let her receive the best education," he said.

TANGSHAN MODES RECONSIDERED

In terms of the intensity and scope of destruction, the May 12 Wenchuan earthquake is believed to have surpassed the 1976 quake in Tangshan, northern Hebei Province, which claimed more than 240,000 lives. The 7.8-magnitude quake also left more than 4,200 homeless children. Nearly three-quarters of the homeless children were adopted by relatives or loving strangers.

Nearly a quarter were sheltered by government-run boarding schools for quake orphans and the rest were raised by large government enterprises.

Today, Chinese people have begun to reconsider the three Tangshan modes of orphan resettlement.

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