(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-05-23 16:03

When two students from the shattered county of Beichuan were brought onstage during a nationally broadcast earthquake fundraising event Sunday night, they cried as presenters explained they had not heard from their families.

Interviewed that night on TV, one of the girls, Liu Yixue, gave her parents' names. "I want to hear their voices," she said. "I hope you're safe. When I go back to Chengdu tomorrow, we'll reunite."

Much attention has focused on the large numbers of children who died in the May 12 earthquake. But days of vivid earthquake coverage on media left many Chinese wanting to do more than donate money, moving many to offer to adopt.

Wei Ningzhong, a 47-year-old furniture salesman, wants to adopt a girl. His offer was inspired in part by teenage memories of China's deadliest earthquake in modern history -- one that killed at least 240,000 near his home in northeastern China in 1976, when Chinese were much poorer.

"Life then and now, you can't compare," said Wei. "Then, we could only take care of ourselves. We had no resources to help others. And the news wasn't clear, so people didn't really know what had happened. Now television and radio don't stop reporting the earthquake news. We see it every day and can't stop crying."

Some Chinese wanting an earthquake orphan pointed out their financial stability. Zhao Songlin, who works in information technology in Hubei province, said he makes more than US$14,000 a year -- about seven times the average amount for urban Chinese. Zhao has a son but, like many after the quake, he'd like to adopt a girl. Boys probably are more popular, so "I want to give girls a chance," he said.

Americans also want to adopt earthquake orphans, but "I think the Chinese government will start with domestic adoption first," said Joshua Zhong, co-founder and president of the US-based Chinese Children Adoption International. His group has placed about 8,000 children with Americans over 15 years.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs has said that adoption arrangements will be made after the disaster area has been brought under control.

Wei, the furniture salesman, said he can wait. "I want to take a bad situation and make it right," he said.

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