A Stolen Twin Reunites with Her Birth Family

(mumbling) - In 2009, I wrote a series of stories for the Los Angeles Times about Chinese baby girls who had been snatched from their families to be adopted abroad. I met a 9-year old girl who's twin sister was taken away. Does this girl miss her twin? Does she know that there's a missing sister? (speaking Chinese) - [Lady] She says actually if my sister wasn't taken away she would be as old as me and we could play together. (speaking Chinese) Come back sooner to play with me. - It took 10 years, but in February of this year during Chinese New Year, I traveled with the stolen twin and her family back to China. Her name is Esther now, her twin Shuangjie introduced her to members of her birth family. Her older sisters and her father Zeng Youdong. Her mother was cooking for us in the kitchen. Esther's birth parents earn extra money during the winter by working in the city, during the summer they grow their own food. Marsha, the adopted mother gave the birth family photographs from Esther's childhood. - [Marsha] We have just adopted Esther. This was in a hotel... (speaking Chinese) we just adopted her. (laughter) - The twins are identical, a DNA test confirmed it. They've looked more like when they were babies, but the family could always tell them apart because Esther who's name was then FangFang had a small tag on her ear. The babies aunt Xiuhua used to take care of Esther while her parents were working in the city. One day when the girl was almost two-years old, men from local government stormed the house and took her away. The said that family had violated China's one-child policy by having too many babies. They asked for fines amounting to more than $1000 to return the girl. The family couldn't get the money together in time, and the girl was sent out for adoption. Her adopted family didn't know anything about this. They were told that she had been found abounded at the gates of the factory. - Let the past be the past. Do not mention it anymore. (speaking Chinese) As long as the ending is good. - Finally, a decade later, the twins aged 18 got a chance to play together. I imagine that they'll stay in touch and will be part of each others lives forever. (laughter) This is Barbara Demick for the Los Angeles Times.

Channel: Los Angeles Times

Views: 419,189

Rating: 4.9462843 out of 5

Keywords: Los Angeles Times, LA Times, L. A. Times, Barbara Demick, one child policy, one-child policy, One Child Nation, china

Id: KAQUusXfv3s

Length: 3min 45sec (225 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 07 2019

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https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2019-08-07/how-a-journalist-discovered-and-reunited-identical-twins