Adoptee spotlight: Clara

Girls Adoption Connect
Jan 26
1 min read

Yangjiang, Gunagzhou, China → Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States

A collage featuring three photos of Clara, with her name “Clara” written in light pink serif text at the top right. The background is white with subtle, rounded pink and gray abstract shapes.
Top left image: Clara stands outdoors on a wide gravel path lined with tall, neatly trimmed green trees. She wears a white top, patterned pants, and a teal shawl, smiling gently toward the camera. A historic building is visible in the distance at the end of the tree-lined walkway.
Bottom left image: A childhood photo of Clara wearing a red traditional-style outfit with matching hair accessories. She looks directly at the camera with a playful, confident expression while kneeling on the floor, surrounded by others dressed similarly.
Right image: Clara stands indoors in a modern classroom or lounge space, smiling and holding a camera. She wears a denim dress and a multicolored scarf, with teal furniture and a projector screen visible in the background.
At the bottom of the collage, text reads: “Yangjiang, Guangzhou, China to Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States.”

Hi, my name is Clara, and I was adopted in December 2005 from Yangjiang in China's Guangzhou province when I was 10 months old. I was raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota!

I have always felt immensely connected to my Chinese heritage, ever since I was small. Part of it has to do with how I was raised: my childhood was different from many of my adopted peers in that my primary school years were spent being instructed entirely in Chinese at a Mandarin immersion elementary school. My Chinese Americanness is such a large part of my identity that I spend much time thinking about Chinese adoption and its sociocultural/political impacts on adoptive and nonadoptive communities alike.

"My Chinese Americanness is such a large part of my identity that I spend much time thinking about Chinese adoption and its sociocultural/political impacts on adoptive and nonadoptive communities alike."

As a senior at Grinnell College, I am double-majoring in Chinese language and literature and anthropology. I am currently planning my anthropology senior thesis — a reflexive ethnography — that will explore what kinship means to Chinese adoptees. A goal of mine is for my research project to be able to serve as a space for shared storytelling and representation within the broader conversation on Chinese American adoption.