Updating...

I've just posted an update to our Atlanta airport guide & am halfway through revising the Minneapolis/St. Paul entry. With these changes I'm tweaking the website's navigation buttons for easier reading - and also starting to change the tone of the entire weninchina effort.

When I started weninchina in 2008, I was thinking mainly of the 4,000+ families who traveled to China each year to complete child adoptions. While international adoption still takes place, the time and expense has dramatically increased (and not just in China), and the number of kids finding new homes overseas has plummeted. Even the number of adoption agencies here in the US who work overseas has dwindled. So the target market I originally was talking to has really shrunk!

Meanwhile, interest by families of every kind in learning about and traveling to East Asia is growing steadily - kids play the videogames and watch anime and want to learn more about the cultures that created the media they enjoy. And the availability of airline service between North America and Asia continues to improve, making it easier to take that trip.

So, I'll be gradually re-writing content across the website to de-emphasize the adoption-trip angle and write more from the point of view of a family going on vacation or for learning experiences, and also adding even more content from outside China/Hong Kong. This process will take some time - but it should also help me find more to write about, as well!

Thank you for reading my work over these past five years - I hope to bring you more and more in the times to come. I'm grateful for your feedback, story suggestions, and contributions!

Three New Articles at weninchina.com

A new crop of columns is now posted at our main site, weninchina.com. First, read our suggestions about what kinds of food you should bring along on your adoption trip. Next, learn a bit more about some of the exotic tropical fruits that may end up on your plate. Finally, for families waiting for their travel date, a quick introduction to blogging and why you should consider doing it.

Several more articles are in the pipeline for this season, including thoughts about how to relieve the anxiety of giving gifts to government officials, the logistics of car seats, a new climate map with clothing suggestions, and a call for readers to send in their favorite new foods (or those they'd warn other families about.)

The weninchina team will be on the road in Tokyo the first week of July, taking advantage of the cheap airfares and looking for family fun. We'll post from Japan, and gather resource material for a more-in-depth full article on the main site. (Tokyo travel tips, must-see locations, must-try places?  Email us!) 

Finally, a big thank-you to the team at FWCC for kindly including us on their resource list for adopting parents. We appreciate the vote of confidence.