[ripples]

I can appreciate the cost and time considerations when trying to decide between China vs. Taiwan. May I also suggest considerations about the possible receptiveness of the locals from each country if/when the adoptee tries to search for his/her birth family?

I am a Taiwanese-born adoptee and was adopted by Asian Studies scholars who were from America. When I was a teenager, my American mom went to mainland China to teach and I went with her for the two years as a dependent. I must say that, in general, the mainland Chinese people seemed a lot more uneasy with me being an overseas Chinese adoptee. While I did meet a lot of friendly people who didn't have an issue about my mixed background, I also got quite a bit of envious flack or resentment from the locals. I also remember the mainland Chinese locals looking at me and my adoptive father with disdain when we walked together hand-in-hand - they probably thought I was a local prostitute hustling a white guy.

Now I'm studying in Taipei and I must say that the people here are so much more open, relaxed and welcoming to overseas Chinese/mixed background people such as me. I think this may have something to do with the fact that a large proportion of Taiwanese people have travelled/lived overseas, whereas proportionately a lot of mainland Chinese people have not. Their openness and understanding has greatly helped me get to know my birth culture roots.

I was also impressed by how helpful the Taiwanese government workers were during my search for my birth family. Whereas a lot of government workers in China I'd met were very, very unhelpful. I can only shudder at thinking how the negative vibes from mainland Chinese people would have affected me if I was an adoptee from mainland China.

About 20 years ago, apparently a lot of Taiwanese people had reunited with their birth family members, when the ban regarding contact between Taiwanese people and their mainland Chinese-based families was lifted. According to an anthropologist and my Chinese language teacher, apparently the Taiwanese people were met by their mainland Chinese relatives with open hands seeking money, not a welcoming hand-shake - very distressing. I hope this sort of response won't repeat itself if/when mainland Chinese born adoptees return to China to seek their birth family.