Marinna Eckel, who traveled from the United States with her adoptive parents, reflects on her early years as she visits the former site of the Shanghai Children's Welfare Service Center yesterday. She spent two and half years there.(Hu Min)
When Marinna Eckel visited the former site of Shanghai Children's Welfare Service Center yesterday, she was overwhelmed by memories. "I have close connection with the place as I once lived here," said the 20-year-old.
Marinna, who traveled from the United States with her adoptive parents, is on a quest to find out about her Chinese family. They had left her in a toilet at Zhabei District Central Hospital around three days after she was born on April 17, 1995. Abandoned, it is thought, because she had no left hand.
Marinna spent the next two and a half years of her life at the children's center, an orphanage, where she was named Tang Yixian, until she was adopted by an American family. She grew up in Denton, Texas, and is currently a second-year student at the University of Texas in Arlington.
She says she has a very happy life in the US but often thinks about her Chinese parents.
In a letter to Shanghai Daily she wrote: "I would love to know if I have Chinese brothers or sisters and if I look like any of my Chinese family. I would wonder what they looked like, especially during school when we talked about genetics because I don't know anything about my Chinese family history."
On her quest to find more about her background, she visited the hospital where she was left, the police station she was taken to and the orphanage.
The orphanage has since moved to Minhang District, and its former site, in Huangpu District, is now a base for non-governmental organizations but the buildings have not changed much.
"Marinna's hair was very short, and she was very tiny and scared," said Bruce Eckel, her adoptive father, a doctor, recalling his first impression of the little girl when he visited with his wife with a view to adoption.
But little Tang didn't like her adoptive father at first.
"I guess I was probably the first white man with mustache she had ever seen as she kept crying," he said.
Marinna said she was too young to be able to remember some things, but she could feel a bond with the place.
Her adoptive mother, Brenda, was a social worker at a US adoption agency for 25 years.
"When I looked at her picture, it was almost like she said to me 'be my mom'," she said.
The couple adopted two Chinese children and have always tried to observe Chinese traditions, instilling in Marinna a grateful and loving attitude toward her Chinese parents.
During their visit to the hospital a doctor promised to get in touch with two former staff members who had dealt with abandoned children to see if they could provide any information.
"Even today, dozens of children are abandoned here or at the nearby railway station every month, most of them disabled or with learning difficulties," she said.
The family also left their contact details at the police station and the orphanage.
Marinna said she knows finding her Chinese family will not be easy.
"If I cannot meet my Chinese parents, I would like very much for them to know that I am happy and loved and my American family has taken excellent, loving care of me, encouraging me and helping me to reach my fullest potential," she said. "After all, they are the reason that I have life," she said.
If you have any clues to Marinna's past, you can contact Shanghai Daily or e-mail eckel.brenda@hotmail.com.
