This page provides information and suggestions by families who have previously visited Fuzhou as part of their adoption trip. Contributions and reports from recent visitors are especially appreciated, so if you have information or suggestions to add, please contact us.

Maps and Guidebooks

An English language map of Fuzhou and a guide to Fuzhou are available from the FujianKids Store.

Bring the Gift of Life

There are many cleft palate babies in Chinese orphanages. These babies have difficulty getting nourishment because their ability to suck is impaired. As a result, they are in a perpetually weakened state and highly susceptible to disease. Some die of starvation. Special feeding equipment can save their lives, but these nursers are not available in China. Please consider bringing some with you when you travel. FujianKids orders cleft palate nursers in bulk, and we will send them to any family traveling to adopt from any orphanage in China, not just orphanages in Fujian Province. Click here for further information.

Help Babies Stay Warm

Orphanages in Fujian Province are not heated, and during the winter it requires a major investment of effort and money for orphanages to keep the babies and children warm. The Warm Cuddly Comforts project was developed by families interested in helping the orphanage children stay warm. These families have made or purchased blankets, hats, and mittens for the children, but they need help in delivering these items to the orphanages. If you have room in your luggage and are willing to carry some of these items to China, contact the Warm Cuddly Comforts project.

Arranging a Return Visit to Your Child's Orphanage

Fujian Province is in the process of changing its regulations concerning return visits to an orphanage. (These are visits when your child is older and you bring him/her back to China to visit the orphanage where your child used to live.) An interim set of guidelines has been established and are described here.

Hotels in Fuzhou

This website has information about most of the major hotels in Fuzhou.
http://www.sinohotelguide.com/fuzhou/

Weather

The weather in Fuzhou is similar to North Florida or southern Georgia. You can check the Fuzhou weather here.

Suggested gifts for official and orphanage personnel

Some agencies request that you bring no gifts for officials, others suggest that you do. It's probably a good idea to have some gifts with you in case you need them. Do not expect gifts to be opened in your presence as it is the Chinese custom to open them privately. Here are some suggested gifts.

To the orphanage director and nannies:

  • Perfume
  • Pen
  • Cosmetics
  • Stamps
  • Items representing your town or state
  • NBA sports memorabilia
  • American ginseng root
  • Candy
  • Fish oil capsules
  • No money gifts to officials

To the orphanage (most items except the cleft nursers can be purchased in China):

  • Baby clothes, cloth diapers
  • Clothing for older children
  • Blankets
  • Children's vitamins
  • Digital ear thermometer (be sure it can measure in centigrade)
  • Cleft lip/palate nursers (click here for further information)

To foster families:

  • See items listed above for director and nannies
  • High quality tea purchased in China
  • Flowers or plant (can usually be purchased near your hotel)

Do not bring gifts of soap, bath gel, shampoo, or body lotion.

Report from a family visiting in October 2001

Our families stayed at the Hot Spring Hotel. It's considered 5-star by Chinese standards, but didn't compare to the White Swan (in Guangzhou) or our hotel in Beijing. Still, it was nice. The main restaurant was good, and the hotel had a business center. Here's how our time in Fuzhou was spent:

Sunday, 10/21. We arrived around 12:30 p.m., and checked into the hotel. Our facilitator went over some of the paperwork with us. At about 4:30, the two babies from Jinjiang arrived. The two children from Changting arrived around 6:00. At 7:30, we all reconvened in our facilitator's room to take two sets of pictures (she had arranged for a professional photographer to be there) -- one picture was of each family for the adoption certificates, the others were individual pictures of the babies for their passports and visas.

Monday, 10/22 . We met early to go to the Registrar's office. Here, the parents signed lots of papers and put our thumbprints on them. The baby's footprint went on one, too. Then one by one, the families went in to see the registrar and answer questions about our ability to care for the children and why we chose to adopt from China. After that, we hurried off to the Notary's office. Here, all the paperwork was reviewed, more paperwork was filled out, we answered similar questions to those we answered at the Registrar's office, and we received our Adoption Certificates, which essentially completed the adoptions. Then it was back to the hotel, where we were able to meet with the orphanage director and ask questions. The director gave us the babies' immunization records (written in Chinese, but with familiar English abbreviations -- MMR, DPT, etc.) at this time.

The rest of the week, we did a little sightseeing and a little shopping, and spent a LOT of time at the hotel getting to know the babies.

Friday, 10/26. We completed the final step -- getting the babies' passports. Our facilitator had taken care of all of the paperwork, so we just went to the Passport Office, signed the waiting passports and took them with us. We headed to Guangzhou that afternoon, earlier than planned, because our Consulate aapointment was scheduled for early Monday, and we needed to get the children's physicals done before then. We flew Xiamen Airlines -- WONDERFUL!!! The flight attendants were amazing, and so helpful with the babies! The flight from Fuzhou to Guangzhou is about 1.5 hours.

Gifts. None of our families gave gifts to the Registrar or the Notary -- and they didn't seem to expect anything. Some families did take gifts for the orphanage director and the worker who accompanied her -- these were tokens really -- I gave them each a small gift bag with souvenirs from Florida, where I live. I also gave the director three or four baby outfits I had brought (new, with the tags still on) to replace the clothes my daughter was wearing when I got her. I wanted to keep them since they're one of the few things I have from her past.

Sightseeing. We didn't overextend ourselves in Fuzhou -- about one brief excursion a day. We didn't want to stress ourselves or the babies. We went to Westlake Park (a short taxi ride from our hotel) one day. We visited a local temple on Tuesday and got to speak with one of the monks, who blessed the babies and thanked us for our kindness in giving them homes -- it was very special. We visited a panda zoo, which was interesting, but a little sad -- not the type of animal-friendly zoo habitats we're used to in the U.S. And we went to the temple at the top of Wu Shan Mountain, where the views were hazy, but beautiful. We didn't eat out much in Fuzhou (most of the time we ate in the hotel), but I'm sure there are plenty of places near the hotels [including a McDonalds Restaurant].

Shopping. There was a supermarket just down the block from the Hot Spring Hotel. We were able to get Chinese baby formula, Pampers (not as good as in the U.S., but not bad), water, juice and snack foods there.

Fujian is known for four things: oolong tea, ox-horn combs (which I'm told won't cause static in cold weather), shou shan stone carvings (a very hard stone, difficult to carve), and lacquerware. The shou shan stone carvings are incredible -- and you'll pay half the price in Fuzhou that you'd pay in Guangzhou for the same size carving.