Wuhu Diary: On Taking My Adopted Daughter Back to Her Hometown in China

By Emily Prager

In 1994 an American writer named Emily Prager met her new daughter LuLu. All she knew about her was that the baby had been born in Wuhu, a city in southern China, and left near a police station in her first three days of life. Her birth mother had left a note with Lulu's western and lunar birth dates. In 1999 Emily and her daughter–now a happy, fearless four-year-old--returned to China to find out more. That journey and its discoveries unfold in this lovely, touching and sensitively observed book.

In Wuhu Diary, we follow Emily and LuLu through a country where children are doted on yet often summarily abandoned and where immense human friendliness can coexist with outbursts of state-orchestrated hostility–particularly after the U. S. accidentally bombs the Chinese embassy in Belgrade. We see Emily unearthing precious details of her child’s past and LuLu coming to terms with who she is. The result is a book that will delight anyone interested in China, and that will move and instruct anyone who has ever adopted--or considered adopting--a child.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Dec 18, 2007
• ISBN: 9780307430328

Reviews for Wuhu Diary

[nancynova · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The title sums it up. This is a DIARY of an extended vacation in China. The US author adopts a Chinese girl - one of the first Chinese adoptions. Now that Lulu is 4, the author takes her back to her birth area, which she believes is Wuhu (Lulu was abandoned near a police station in Wuhu and taken to the orphanage there). Daily account of what they saw and did. Interesting point for the author - for the first time, SHE is the minority and her daughter fits in. And she calls out that turn of events in her story.

[nmayberry_5 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed reading about this little family's journey to the adopted child's place of birth.The child was a delight, a truely trusting, loving soul.

[autumnesf · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The story of a woman and her adopted child returning to the childs roots. This mother returns to the town her baby is from when the child is almost 5. They stay in China for about 2 months. To complicate matters, this is in the time frame when the USA bombs the Chinese Embassy. A very heart warming story full of ups and downs as the mother tries to gain access to the orphanage and her child's file. How I envy this mother the ability to go to China for such an extended stay and search. Worth buying.