Posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett on December 16, 2005 at 20:03:25 from 213.38.124.194 user ACB.
In Reply to: Re: Catriona's Start in China posted by Prue Eckett on December 16, 2005 at 09:52:30:
Two things, really.
First, don't blame the one child policy. I've just come back from a reunuion lunch with old colleagues from Hong Kong, one of whom recalls walking up Nathan Road, Kowloon, one Sunday morning, in the 70's, and finding the corpse of a baby girl in the gutter. Nathan Road is hardly the back of beyond and it was then most certainly under British rule.
Blame insufficient contraceptives, if you like. And don't let's pretend that it does not happen in Britain and in North America; it does.
I worked in Hong Kong, and then in China, for some years; I still work for a Chinese company and like many people in my position I have come to value my Chinese friends very highly.
I am getting a bit cross, because your daughter is always going to be Chinese, and you really should be careful with your attitudes to her native land and its people; keep them positive, if she is not to have a very difficult time a few years from now.
Second and more cheeful point, food is food, steamed bread is not really different to the baked kind (actually, most Western bread IS steamed, these days, unless you live near a proper baker) eggs are eggs, but the point to watch out for is lactose tolerance. She will have had somewhat less "milk" than a western baby would. I think I am right in saying that lactose tolerance is largely conditioned by diet, so she should be OK, but do be careful with dairy products to begin with.