People in China adopting custom-made white babies?

[Minoosh]

Minoosh, this could be settled quite easily. Your friend's girlfriend works there, you say?

Why would I want to settle it? I'm finding this amusing. No I don't want to grill my friend's new GF on this particular tangent. If this thing has legs I'll pick her brain at some point. Chinese "tend" to pick donors of Asian descent. My point was based on a misconception about the fate of mixed "race" children in homogeneous Asian cultures. My thinking was based in what I had heard/read about G.I. spawn in Japan, Korea and Vietnam. Dated info. China is different. It absorbs "foreign" cultures into itself (Mongol, Manchu, even Eastern European Jews.). It's a bigger tent than I gave it credit for. Plus this lady is in China right now.

This, of course, is worryingly close to "I know a guy who heard from his dentist about a guy who said X".

Fewer degrees of separation than that and it's not worrying me. I'm curious, just not curious enough to jump into my friend's life as he is in the delicate period of being "stone in love." His happiness matters to me.

You should very easily be able to find out the company name.

She may be an independent entrepreneur. I know her first name, she is in NoCal while agencies mentioned in news articles were from SoCal. I'm satisfied for now that U.S. citizens, presumably some of them mixed "race," are indeed being sent "home" with Chinese nationals. Extra embryos (and potentially fetuses) sometimes are culled due to frequent implanting of multiple embryos.

CNN's gee-whiz story left some gaping holes I'd like to see filled. I'm not sure that I personally will take those extra steps. Soon I will be up to my neck in immigrant teenagers and if my job swerves into reportage it will probably involve these "dreamers" (if I get permission to tell their stories). It's why I keep saying I'm just speculating about the questions that weren't addressed in news reports I've seen. I still want to know if there is oversight re: guardianship when the babies are born. I might pursue this in a serious way but realistically I'll have a lot less time on my hands in a couple of weeks.

I don't simply accept my friend's word. Clearly here I've been looking for information and insight. Sorry about the length of this post, I'm on an iPad mini & cutting is cumbersome.

 

[Minoosh]

Because I know heaps of Chinese people. Have spent loads of time in China and have seen zero peer reviewed research, anecdotal evidence to show your claim

"Your claim"

I.e. onus on you to prove

My claim is that my friend told me this. That's clearly demarcated from my speculation, as other posters have noted.

What makes you think you'd be privy to exploratory research efforts? Because of the CCP's long history of candor and transparency?

 

[cullennz]

My claim is that my friend told me this. That's clearly demarcated from my speculation, as other posters have noted.

What makes you think you'd be privy to exploratory research efforts? Because of the CCP's long history of candor and transparency?

Mainly because they wouldn't chose America

 

[cullennz]

You do realise we and Aus have free trade agreements with China and they are our biggest export, tourist market.

Why fart around in the US

 

[Minoosh]

When you start out with this 'wariness' about China, anything their people do will look suspicious. If couples from Norway were adopting custom-made American babies, would you be asking this question -

China is in a class by itself. A 400-pound gorilla. With a very status-hungry class of nouveau riche and highly connected "princelings." Norway would be less puritanical than the U.S. in handling human embryos but would IMO observe guidelines followed by other Western countries.

Does anyone really think the Chinese system is as open as you'd expect in Western Europe?

 

[Minoosh]

Mainly because they wouldn't chose America

Evidence?

 

[cullennz]

Evidence?

Your the one telling the story.

 

[cullennz]

China is in a class by itself. A 400-pound gorilla. With a very status-hungry class of nouveau riche and highly connected "princelings." Norway would be less puritanical than the U.S. in handling human embryos but would IMO observe guidelines followed by other Western countries.

Does anyone really think the Chinese system is as open as you'd expect in Western Europe?

No

But there is no proof they are buying American embryos when they could just rock over here

 

[cullennz]

Seriously mate/matess.

Do you honestly think everyone thinks white Americans of all the places in the world would want to strive to be?

It is actually quite funny

 

[Roboramma]

My friend may have been guessing about the blond part. If he's right, my concern was for how such "Aryan" children (not my word) would fare in a homogeneous Asian culture.

A friend of mine was raising his son and sending him to school in shanghai. His son is black and his classmates were chinese, but he didn't have any problem getting along with them.

 

[Minoosh]

A friend of mine was raising his son and sending him to school in shanghai. His son is black and his classmates were chinese, but he didn't have any problem getting along with them.

That's good to hear. I'd be curious if half Chinese, half black children were accepted as readily. I was working with dated knowledge re: mixed-race children in Japan, Korea and Vietnam. I'm glad that in China, or at least Shanghai, racial minorities aren't hassled.

Does the boy speak Chinese or is this an American-type school? I'm interested in teaching overseas.

 

[cullennz]

They aren't Klingons mate.

They are now pretty inclusive

 

[Minoosh]

I have stated that it would actually be impossible for the Chinese to be adopting fully-formed, e.g. "born" American babies.

Is adoption the key word here? Born American babies are being sent to China. But it's called "surrogacy," not adoption, even if the child is not genetically related to the would-be parents.

You cannot pack of an American-born [thus, citizen] to someone you've pre-arranged to turn it over to.

As far as I can tell, this is exactly what happens.

Remember, by American law any child born in the US, other than to diplomatic personnel, is automatically a U.S. Citizen.

Yet the intended parents do take the the U.S. citizen baby home to China. Is there some nuance I'm missing?

 

[cullennz]

Is adoption the key word here? Born American babies are being sent to China. But it's called "surrogacy," not adoption, even if the child is not genetically related to the would-be parents.

As far as I can tell, this is exactly what happens.

Yet the intended parents do take the the U.S. citizen baby home to China. Is there some nuance I'm missing?

Apparently the Chinese are fixated with America.

When they could hang out here or in Aus without about ten times the grief and decent food

 

[Foolmewunz]

Is adoption the key word here? Born American babies are being sent to China. But it's called "surrogacy," not adoption, even if the child is not genetically related to the would-be parents.

No. They're not. You are wondering if they are, but you are unwilling to actually investigate the claims so this is all no more than a brainfart.

As far as I can tell, this is exactly what happens.

Yet the intended parents do take the the U.S. citizen baby home to China. Is there some nuance I'm missing?

Do they? You have yet to show that there are any such surrogacy arrangements actually taking place. It's still in "brainfart" territory. Sorry, but what some woman on the internet says she heard through a friend's girlfriend is not terribly reliable. The premise is based on a level of genetic engineering that is not currently achievable. Chinese surrogate/biological parents cannot make great beak aryan babies.

Sorry, but "as far as" you can tell is not very far.

 

[cullennz]

Actually that was harsh.

There is some decent food in the US

 

[Foolmewunz]

Actually that was harsh.

There is some decent food in the US

Pro-rata? Yes. You can find as good a meal in the US as anywhere. They/we probably have the same percentage of crap food as anywhere. By sheer volume, that probably means you find a lot more crap food in China than any other country. In NZ you have to work at finding a bad meal; again, just going by the sheer numbers, or lack of same, of the population.

 

[cullennz]

I'm guessing that is why they are stealing white embryos from the US.

Cheaper than chicken

 

[Minoosh]

No. They're not. You are wondering if they are, but you are unwilling to actually investigate the claims so this is all no more than a brainfart.

I must be missing something here. The CNN Money story (link posted twice) spells out what happens. It acknowledges the surrogacy, the need at times for donor egg and/or sperm (which "tends to" come from people of Asian descent), the child's birth in the U.S. and the fact that these babies then go to China. I don't know what else you require.

 

[Foolmewunz]

I must be missing something here. The CNN Money story (link posted twice) spells out what happens. It acknowledges the surrogacy, the need at times for donor egg and/or sperm (which "tends to" come from people of Asian descent), the child's birth in the U.S. and the fact that these babies then go to China. I don't know what else you require.

That is surrogacy.... Chinese biological parents. Negotiated legal surrogacy agreements.

Do you not see the difference between such an arrangement and "some lady who knows a guy who heard from a girl that you can't be bothered to check on who says" that they are matching egg and sperm donors... American egg and sperm donors, by golly, and creating western-looking babies? Children born through surrogacy have the genetic qualities of the CHINESE donors/parents. They are biologically the offspring of those parents.