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Hong Kong: Abandoned children

Hong Kong: Abandoned children

The Chinese babies left on the streets of 1960s Hong Kong in the hope they'd be adopted

Witness History · BBC World Service

June 30, 20228m 59s

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Show Notes

In the 1950s and '60s hundreds of thousands of Chinese people fled to the British colony of Hong Kong to escape famine. Conditions for the arrivals were so desperate that some families chose to abandon their children in the streets so they would be taken in by orphanages. Many were adopted in homes in Britain and other English-speaking countries. Laura FitzPatrick talks to one of the adopted children, now known as Debbie Cook.

(Photo: The young Debbie Cook with kind permission from the family)