I've been searching for my daughter
for 18 years.

I only held her once.

What's her name?

I hadn't given her one.

Your biological daughter?

Of course.

His father gave her up without
our consent.

My father wanted a grandson,
so he just gave her away.

I've never stopped searching.
In the winter, I can't sleep.

Our daughter was born in the winter.
The sadness eats away at me.

It's turned my hair gray.

The One-Child Policy was harsh.

A lifelong nightmare.

Nothing could make me forget
our daughter.

Even just once, I'd like to see her again.

I won't give up. Why were we forced
to give her away?

China's Jiangxi Province.

Under 38-degree heat, one woman traverses the city streets.

Do you know anyone who gave up
their daughter?

Do you know anyone who gave up
their daughter?

Do you know anyone who gave up
their daughter?

You might as well look for stars in the sky.

Long Stuy is carrying out a nationwide search after coming here from America.

Her goal is to find the parents of a number of children.

All of them were sent overseas for adoption and separated from their birth parents.

There are so many people searching for
their parents.

They've asked me to look for them.

That must be like hunting a needle
in a haystack.

It happened to many children
in that era.

In China, one system was responsible for separating countless children from their parents.

The One-Child Policy.

Created to curb overpopulation, it spanned the 36 years from 1979 to 2015.

Calling women of fertile age.

When you hear this announcement,
please go for a pregnancy test.

The nationwide policy set a general limit of a single child per married couple.

Farming villages in particular held a strong culture of valuing male heirs over females,

which they regarded as preserving the family lineage.

Many families continued to have children until a son was born, intending to give up their daughters.

Those who violated the policy
had to pay a large fine.

Many parents grappled with how to hide
the birth of their daughters.

The result was many of them being
given to orphanages.

They would be sent overseas for adoption.

Through international adoption, it's estimated that 150,000 children were relocated to various parts of the world.

These are all documents for people
searching for their birth parents.

This girl's birth name was Guang Fuyan.
She was sent to an orphanage in Jiangxi.

Her English name is Mikayla.

My name is Makayla from Blackstone, Massachusetts.

I'm senior at UMass Amherst, and I'm currently studying anthropology.

I was adopted when I was 9 months old from China at the Guangcheng Welfare Institute.

In my whole town, like, not even just like Chinese or Asian but just like non-white people in general,

and so I just remember, like wanting to fit in so bad, and wanted to be like everybody else,

I wanted blonde hair and blue eyes, and I just wanted to not look so different from everybody else.

I obviously wanna find my birth parents that's why...

Even the smallest bit of information about like, my history or who my family, my biological family is, anything like that,

for me, it's super meaningful and important because I just feel like my whole life has just been like missing something.

Long set out on a journey on Mikayla's behalf, to locate her biological parents.

I'm looking for someone named Lai Xiaohua
in the town of Yiqian.

That should be the person who
found her abandoned.

Long's only clue in this search is the document that was submitted from the orphanage.

"Early on the morning of May 30th 2001,
local government officials Lai Xiaohua and Tang Mingliang of Yiqian

found a recently born girl and delivered her to the orphanage."

Do you know Lai Xiaohua?

There are tons of people with that name
around here.

That many?

It's a very common name here.

Try asking the local government office.

Long tries her luck there.

I've never heard of someone called
Lai Xiaohua working here.

No Tang Mingliang, either.

Apparently they were officials here.

You're sure that you don't know a
Tang Mingliang?

All the Tangs here are related,
but I don't know a Mingliang.

It's true.

Her search for the two town officials fails to turn up any leads.

With the enormous number of children who were sent to orphanages at the time,

she thinks that the names may have been recorded carelessly.

This sort of thing happens
all the time.

But with nothing else to go off of,
we can only rely on the document.

She drives another 2 hours from Yiqian.

This visit is based on information of a woman regretting giving up her daughter.

I've been searching for a long time,
without any luck.

Zhou Xiaofang is 50 years old.

She gave up her daughter in the winter of 2001.

Holding the meaning of living a content life, Zhou had named her Feng Yuan,

but she was forced to surrender her soon after birth.

Where did you give birth?

In an old clay and tile home.

Because the policy was so strict,
I gave birth there in secret.

I was scared that she might cry, and couldn't
hang her swaddling clothes outside.

If my daughter's cries were heard,
they'd have been sure to catch me.

I had to let her go.

At the time, Zhou had already given birth to 4 other daughters.

In this region, families bearing a child illegally were fined 3.5 times their yearly income,

with further births subjected to a fine twice as large.

I didn't even make US $1,300 a year,
and the charge was several times that.

We barely had the money to eat.

When I gave birth to her,
I was terribly poor.

As punishment they'd demolished my home,
and taken my food and crops.

They'd even taken my pigs.

If they'd found out again...

I'd have been forced to undergo sterilization
so that I couldn't have more.

Why did you keep having children?

This is a farming village.

We need a male heir to carry on
our household.

Prosperity of descendants
is set in stone here.

Zhou runs a meat shop in the local marketplace.

The year after giving up Feng Yuan, she gave birth to a sixth child, her first son.

You have five children here, but you still
want to search for your daughter?

Of course any child I gave birth to
is precious to me.

If not for the One-Child Policy,
I'd have never given her up.

No matter how poor I was, I'd have
fed her before taking a bite of food.

Even now, when I see a girl my
daughter's age I focus in on her.

I unconsciously wonder if it might be her.

I'd just like to see her once.

I don't mind if she won't accept me
as her mother.

After hearing Zhou's account, Long considers it likely that her daughter may be living overseas.

She obtains a swab of saliva from Zhou's son to use in DNA testing.

Please, do anything you can
to find my daughter.

This is Hunan.

This is Anhui.

Long lives in Utah, with her husband Brian Stuy.

Although they have no biological children together, they've adopted and raised 3 girls from China.

Eventually, their daughters asked things like,

"Who are my birth parents?"

and "Why was I given up?"

Beginning with these questions, they commenced their activities connecting children with their birth parents.

They've utilized DNA testing to reunite nearly 300 children with their original families.

We wanted to kind of just touch base on progress.

So if we wanted to spend a couple minutes with you, is this good?

Yeah, yeah.

Most recently, they identified this woman's parents.

While living in America, she had long held the wish to find her biological parents in China.

And so we tested the sister, and her results came in on Friday.

Okay? And she's a match to you, Grace. She's your birth sister.

Oh my gosh.

Yeah. It's astounding.

I found my birth sister.

Oh my gosh.

She sort of looks like me.

Yeah, she looks like you.

She's pretty though.

My name is Grace Romig, I'm 20 years old.

I was adopted from Maoming, Guangdong.

A female was abandoned in front of 32 South Guandu Road, Maoming City on 1/27/2002.

According to the policeman, the child was in a set of light blue and pink cloth wearing a pink woolen hat and wrapped in a child's blanket.

Lying in a paper box quietly.

The umbilical cord was clean and still attached.

After failing to find family members, the police station sent her to the Maoming Social welfare Institute of Custody on the day.

When Grace was 10 months old, her future adoptive mother visited China.

This video shows the first time they met.

There's Grace, there's May May.

Just staring at me like, "what the heck are you?"

Beth Romig adopted Grace when she was 44.

Unmarried but wanting children, she applied to the Chinese International Adoption program.

While working as a nurse, Beth also has raised her other adopted daughter, Jenna.

She always cried and she always cried about her birth family.

She looked for people who look like her,

and even when we were out in public in the States and she would see other Asians, usually, she'd say you know,

"Oh there's my mom! There's my sister!"

But then she would say, "they really don't look like me."

Although raised in America, Grace never stopped wondering about her parents in China.

To help Beth, she works part-time in a used clothing store.

I was a person who wasn't like, born and raised in America.

It did feel a little bit isolating and something.

My background, and this is the life I live now, and I don't know my birth parents,

I don't know... I haven't yet considered if they didn't want to meet me, but I know that, that is a possible occurrence.

Finding my birth parents would mean the world to me because I'd love to learn more about them and their life

because like everyone else - they're people - and they have their own stories and reasons why they had to do something.

In some ways, even though they've been welcomed into the family and into the community,

I don't think they feel comfortable.

And how much more of just the abandonment part is always in there.

When you see aspects that they aren't happy, it's very difficult.

And sometimes there's nothing you can do about it.

Grace finding her family is perhaps bringing some resolution to the "not being wanted."

I hope that if she continues to explore this, she'll realize that she was wanted.

In China, Grace's parents are notified that their daughter has been found at last.

Three months later, Grace goes to meet her birth parents for the first time.

This is Wuchuan, a small town in Guangdong Province.

Why bother to film this?

I'm worried my daughter will see
how dirty I get.

She might not want to come back.

Yang Yagui is a day laborer who works in construction sites there.

He's confirmed to be Grace's biological father.

I've worked since I was 18,
and have to keep on working.

What can I do? I need money
to feed my children.

Food and water cost money.

Yang lives together with his wife, Chen Xuandi.

For 21 years, they've wondered what became of their daughter.

I thought about where she lives,
and if she's going to school.

All this time, I'd hoped that
she's doing well.

I had no idea she was so far away,
in America.

The food and education system there
are better than in China.

It's a land of abundance, after all.

Yang has in fact never once seen his daughter's face.

While he was out working, his mother gave Grace away without so much as asking him.

My mother was here when my daughter was born.

She decided to give her away.

She'd wanted a grandson.

In this town, families without sons
carry no status.

The more male heirs, the more
status a family carries.

At the time Grace was born, Yang and his wife already had a 10-year-old son.

Hoping to gain another son, they opposed the Policy by having three more children, but all of them were girls.

The One-Child Policy was strict.

Whenever an official came by,
we had to shut the door and hide.

We had our door broken in so many times.

They used a log to bust it.

I was caught twice, my wife three times.

We were taken away and locked up.

We couldn't get out unless we paid.

It was terrifying.

Together, they paid a fine of around 3 times their yearly income.

After using up the money they'd saved away with migrant labor, their finances were pushed to the limit.

But Yang's mother still insisted on them having another son.

Instead, Grace was brought into the world.

With three daughters already, my mother
wouldn't let her stay.

My wife couldn't speak up
against her mother-in-law.

I was heartbroken.

Yang's brother and his wife recall that after giving birth to so many girls, Chen was looked down upon.

My mother insisted on having sons.

When the first child was a boy,
my mother-in-law was very happy.

But after several granddaughters,
she began acting colder.

Weren't you upset with her?

She had no place to complain.

She just had to accept it.

I don't know how to feel about it.

I missed my daughter so much.

With how strict the policy was,
we had trouble getting by.

I thought my daughter might be
happier away from this poverty.

What would you talk about with her?

I don't know.

I can't understand English.

My daughter's coming back home
to see us, her birth parents.

Please let her have a safe trip.

After a 22-hour flight from the U.S., Grace arrives in the country where she was born.

Her adoptive mother Beth and younger sister Jenna accompany her.

Wuchuan is a 3-hour ride from Guangzhou by high-speed train.

I got this secondhand at a store in my community I think.

I got it within the last couple weeks, and I chose to wear it today because red in China means good luck.

And everybody - it just doesn't seem real; it doesn't seem like it's actually happening.

I'm looking forward to when I get to see my parents face-to-face, see their reactions, and I'm probably going to cry.

Our whole extended family is coming.

We'll hold a welcome party.

We'll light firecrackers to celebrate
the occasion.

It's a tradition here in Guangdong.

Grace's mother puts on a new pair of shoes, to greet her for the first time in 21 years.

All of her sisters are here.

Yang's second daughter Yang Tudi works in Guangzhou.

She was the one who provided the sample for DNA testing.

Naturally, Long Stuy also joined them to witness the fruits of her efforts.

What's wrong?

Mom is crying.

You're about to see her.

That's right.

Finally, the time has come for a reunion more than 2 decades in the making.

Just nervous being in a new place and nervous, I guess like, what they'll expect of me.

I'd be worried that they would have high expectations for me.

I'm worried about coming back home, and like, interrupting them from what they are doing.

Grace's parents and siblings all wait to meet her.

Despite their anticipation, her parents are nervous as well.

I hope she isn't angry at us.

About why we gave her up.

I'm scared that she'll ask.

Watch your step, dear.

Welcome home.

This is our mom and dad.

And our big brother.

Don't cry. Don't cry, dear.

Mama, thank you.

She is my gift from you to me.

It says, "Welcome back home."

Welcome back home!

For the long-awaited reunion, the family prepared an array of special dishes.

Including friends and extended relatives, around 70 people gather to celebrate.

It's the family's first dinner together with Grace.

I feel like every moment with them, I felt accepted and welcomed by them.

When it's time to eat, they wanted me to be full and eat more food.

They just care about every little thing about me, and I feel that love.

The biggest surprise I think was the family's reaction to us.

We, in America, we've always heard that girls are not appreciated,

and the way he welcomed Grace was totally opposite as to what we have always heard in America.

How much did you spend on the party?

Around $4,000 for the evening.

With our daughter coming home,
we were happy to spend it.

We borrowed it from relatives
to make her feel welcomed.

A new week together begins after 2 decades apart.

Grace's birth mother and father seek to make up for their absence.

Although hesitantly, Grace poses a serious question to them.

If I was their son instead of a daughter, would grandmother have kept me in the family?

I see. That's a hard question.

- If she'd been a son?
- What'd she ask?

If she'd been a boy, I'm sure that
my mother wouldn't have given her up.

It was just because she was a girl.

They said that if you were a boy,
your grandmother would have kept you.

Does she feel that we abandoned her?

The truth is that we wanted to keep
our daughter.

At the time Grace was born, Yang had been away for migrant labor in Shenzhen.

He returned as soon as he heard the news, but by the time he arrived, his mother had already given up their daughter.

No matter how he pleaded, his mother refused to tell where the infant had been sent.

I asked with different midwives
trying to get her back.

When I didn't find her that day,
I searched the next.

I kept on searching for days.

In the end, Yang was unable to regain his daughter.

Without even seeing her face or giving her a name, the years passed.

If not for the One-Child Policy,
I'd gladly have raised many children.

But we couldn't afford the fines,
so my mother gave her up.

There was nothing I could do.

Under pressure from both the Policy and his mother, Yang finally accepted the fate.

I'm so sorry that despite being her father,
I couldn't raise her.

Yes yes, I understand.

I know, I know it's not anyone's fault.

I know it's not anyone's fault.

This is the old house where
my grandparents lived.

This is our grandpa and grandma.

I think our grandma is very beautiful.

Grace's grandmother passed away last year at age 85.

Her older sister Tudi says that despite her grandmother's actions, she couldn't blame her.

Our grandmother may have given you away,
but she was very good to us.

When she passed away I was very sad.

And she helped our parents to raise us.

Tudi was the first person in their village ever to attend graduate school.

In order to pay her tuition, their father kept working and sold their cattle,

while their grandmother contributed her savings.

I'm very grateful to her.

So I want you to forgive her.

She was very good to our dad
because she knows he is very kind.

Do you think you can forgive her?

Yes, I still care about her, and I wish I could have met her in China, too.

Grace has cried a lot, I feel happy for her because she has found something she's been looking for, for so long.

Beth recognizes the complex emotions growing within her daughter.

Well she wants to be here to help them but she also doesn't want to leave me.

If she were to move, she says, "I don't want to leave you alone, I need to take care of you."

It's a big adjustment to make, it's a big change in her life.

If she needs to do what she needs to do, I would support her.

Your aunt is here.

What do you say?

Hello.

On the previous nights, Grace had been staying with Beth in a hotel.

Tonight, she'll spend the night at her family's home for the first time.

You can put your bag on the bed.

Beth wasn't unhappy about this?

I want to stay here because it's like, how they grew up and I haven't grown up here,

so it's like, I need different time of the day spending time here and want to live here at all different times in the day.

Grace has finally gotten a taste of life together with her birth parents.

That night, her father makes an unexpected statement.

Please tell my daughter.

It's best for her to return to the US
to focus on her work and study.

We want that for her.

America is a rich nation,
and we're very poor.

You want her to live in America?

It's best for her standard of life.

There are 3,000 people here,
and they all look down on us.

We're just so poor.

If she wanted to live here,
it'd be different than in America.

Grace hears of her father's wishes.

I would stay with them anywhere they are because that what matters. Because we're family.

They had to give up a child not knowing where I was,

because I feel like that would be very difficult and especially because my mom had to go back to work and then my dad didn't know,

so that makes me feel sad for them, because I think they had it more difficult than me.

But I wanna take care of them.

I don't want them to have to work forever.

As long as I'm with my family that's all that matters.

I'll work on their farm and do anything to help make them money.

I want to let them know that like,

I'm not embarrassed and I don't care what other people think if they think more like...

like they're less than anyone else.

Because it's not true.

It's all right.

Don't cry.

We've grown used to this life,
but it would be hard for her.

Farm work is awfully tough.

You have a good life in America,
then we're happy for you.

Whenever you want to see us,
you're welcome here.

But you should go back for now.

The One-Child Policy was abolished in 2015, ending 36 years under its control.

The Chinese government now supports population growth,

and is implementing policies to encourage having multiple children.

How did you sleep last night?

I slept good.

It was hot, that bed was really comfortable.

When my mom was washing her clothes out 1 in the morning, and I was sleeping,

yes, I felt like I was a member of the family.

Thank you.

So it felt nice to be included in something that I missed in the past.

Grace's time spent with her family now draws to an end.

I have something for my daughter.

Yang takes out all of the money he has available, around 300 dollars.

No, no. No, please.

For our daughter.

No.

It's for her tuition.

What does he say?

Please send her to school.

It's for her good.

I want her to be kind to Beth.

I can't express my thanks to her
for raising my daughter.

I love them both the same, like no more than the other.

Yeah, I want it to be one without the other.

I couldn't live with my mom if they did not give me life.

And, I wouldn't have the life I have today without my mom.

So she can come back.

Thank you.

Be well.

Don't cry.

After 21 years of separation...

Once again, their daughter will cross the ocean to a faraway land.

Of course, I didn't want her to leave.

But she has her home there.

She has a bright future.

I missed 21 years spending time with them,

but it definitely helps a lot knowing that they're there for me

and support me in everything I do and want the best for me.

I see how hard they worked to send my two sisters to university to show there is a better life for them,

and I just want to have a better life for myself so I can give it back to them.

Grace's parents give her the Chinese name that she should have received at the birth.

Yang Siqing.

It represents the wish for their daughter to live a pure and beautiful life.

The newly named Yang Siqing has decided that by the time they next meet,

she'll advance her career so that she can help provide for her new family.