She was born in Nanjing but life got off to a bad start. Finding a home with an American couple, she felt confused and challenged in the process of growing up. And now she wants to know where she came from and has launched the search for her biological parents.
The little baby girl was born in Nanjing on 24 December, 1994. But just a month later, on 26 January, she was abandoned. Raised for several months in the NanJing Children’s Welfare Institute, the baby was given the name, Yi Yang.
Unlike many of the babies abandoned or orphaned in the Institute, baby Yang was lucky to find adoptive parents in an American Jewish couple on 8 May.
Bringing Yang up as their own in the USA, under her adopted name, Sophie Samdperil, her parents talked openly about adoption to her throughout childhood.
And out of respect for her cultural identity and to provide some kind of continuity, Sophie played with other adopted Chinese children.
Sophie also found that her desire for roots grew stronger as she grew up. Although she was afraid to find out why she was abandoned, she still missed the biological parents she had never met. “I want to find, know and understand them, so I can find myself”, she said, reports The World Journal.
Yet Sophie still wondered. Perhaps she had been abandoned on account of China’s then one-child policy. Or had economic considerations been at play? “In the final analysis, I still want to know them and hope they give me a big hug.”
Once, her good friend in Grade 6 said to her, “I don’t treat you as a Chinese. In my eyes, you are you”. While the words were kind, they also made Sophie feel even more entangled in her identity.
And so Sophie has now launched the search for her biological mum and dad, with the full support of her adoptive parents. They too hope that she can find the piece that has been missing from her heart.
Having undergone genetic testing, Sophie believes that she may be descended from the Miao ethnic minority.
Anyone with information they feel willing and able to share may take the initiative to contact her. Sophie can be reached via ssamdperil1@gmail.com.
