Lianyungang
Lianyungang Social Welfare Institution
No. 33 Fu Li Road, Xin Pu District
Lianyungang, Jiangsu, China
222003
Half the Sky’s 22nd Children's Center opened 4/2005
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Infant Nurture Program since April, 2005 |
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Little Sisters Preschool Program since January, 2006 |
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Youth Services Program since 2005 |
Family Village #11 since January, 2008 |
Lianyungang is located on the shore of the Huang Hai (Yellow Sea) in northeast Jiangsu Province. With beautiful mountain and coastal scenery, Lianyungang is one of the three largest nature reserves in Jiangsu province; its metropolitan population is 5 million.
Huaguo Mountain, which rises 625 meters above seal level in the Yuntai Mountains of Lianyungang, is the birthplace of Chinese superhero Sun Wukong (Monkey King).
Sun Wukong is the hero of Journey to the West, a 100-chapter novel written by Ming Dynasty author Wu Cheng’en (1510-1582), who was born near Huaguo Mountain. Visitors to Huaguo can find recognizable images and spots described in the book. One is an eight-meter-tall rock resembling a monkey standing on a hill at the north gate. Most striking is the Water Curtain Cave, the home of Monkey King, whose entrance is a cascade of spring water forming a crystal curtain.
In the novel, the Monkey King springs into existence out of one stray stone of many earmarked by Goddess Nuwa to patch a hole in the heavens. Born from a stone that is the essence of Heaven and Earth rather than of a mother and father, Sun Wukong is unbound by the fetters of temporal human relationships. Neither impressed not intimidated by order, ritual or hierarchy, he causes havoc in Heaven, the Dragon King's Palace, and Hell. His refusal to collude with evil forces makes him a hero and embodiment of righteousness in the eyes of the Chinese people.
Generations of Chinese children have grown up with Sun Wukong’s colorful exploits: One somersault takes the Monkey King a distance of 9,000 kilometers; he can jump on top of a cloud in an instant, and in the face of powerful demons is always resourceful enough to confound his enemies.
In 1983 Chinese Central TV screened a serialization of Journey to the West, which augmented the Monkey King’s admirers to include international devotees. Sun Wukong can now be seen greeting visitors to Disney World at various locations alongside Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.
Though the Monkey King is by far Lianyungang’s most famous citizen, Ling Huiping, a mysterious woman who lived 2,000 years ago during the West Han Dyansty (206 BC-26 AD) is the second. Ling Huiping’s amazingly well-preserved corpse was discovered by a construction worker in 2002. Visitors to the Lianyungang Museum can see Ling Huipin’s hair, teeth, skin and toes. According to the museum experts, her brain, muscles, heart, lungs, liver and intestines are also intact.
Fifteen kilometers south of Lianyungang, Sucheng Town is said to have been built under the order of Emperor Li Shimin (599-649) of the Tang Dynasty when he made an expedition to east China. The town lies on a small plain rimmed with mountains that are studded with waterfalls, old trees, and strangely shaped peaks that can be reached by road. Among the famous scenic spots are Boat Hill Cascade (Chuanshanfeipu), Rock Gate (Shimen), and the Crouching Dragon Pine (Wolongsong).
If you adopted a child who was in a Half the Sky program, we will be happy to send you any progress reports with translations we may have on file. Please fill out and send us this Form so we can start processing your request.
You should also have received a Memory Book at the time of the adoption so that your child will have an additional record of her/his earliest years in our program. If you don’t read Chinese and don’t know anyone who reads Chinese, we suggest that you check with a local college to find someone who can translate it. If you did not receive your child’s Memory Book, our Beijing office will try to track it down, though occasionally there are bureaucratic glitches and the institution is unable to find the original or in even rarer cases a copy. In every case, we will do our best to retrieve the Memory Book.