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Witness History: Hong Kong: Abandoned children

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Hong Kong's abandoned children

01/07/2022 GMT

Hong Kong: Abandoned children

BBC World Service - Witness History, Hong Kong: Abandoned children

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

The Chinese babies left on the streets of 1960s Hong Kong in the hope they would be taken in by orphanages. Many were adopted in Britain and other English-speaking countries.

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)

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