Bringing a little of China into your home

Eggshell pottery bowl from Jiangxi Province where Grace was born. The ceramic pieces come packed in wonderful boxes, but we still hand carried this back on the plane. Way too fragile to ship.
My dining room, showing a table with an antique teapot, Tang horse(new) and red lacquer box (about 40 years old). The box has an image of a Phoenix on it. The green horse sits in a window, Grace was born in the year of the horse.

Antique jade incense burner that normally sits in a cupboard in our dining room. The lion represents power and it was usually reserved for royalty. We bought this piece at an antique shop in Guangzhou. It's small, only about 4 inches tall.

Antique cloisonne urn (bought in Will's province), it sits on our mantel. Also folk art print hangs in our family room with 2 others. I love the vibrant colors and primitive style. The red dragon box on top of our armoire in our family room was bought from China Sprout.

Our hallway on the landing going upstairs. The celadon green vase is an antique piece from China, the emperor next to it is from Pier 1. The scrolls(4) have a whole story behind them, found them at a little shop in Nanchang and they are original watercolors. The artist and his wife invited us in for tea and we stayed about an hour. Negotiate for everything you buy (that part was fun for me).

Some of Grace's room. Asian toile print on her duvet cover, a Chinese kite and old cupboard on her dresser with her baby shoes from China and a panda teapot.

These are 2 of my most treasured possessions, a tea set from Grace's province and silver bracelets that were given to her by our guide when we traveled in 2003. I put them in a shadowbox and keep them on my dresser but they will be Grace's someday.

Master bedroom and I used a toile print with an Asian theme for the duvet. Also the print above the bed is of boats on the South China Sea.

We started the process to adopt Grace in the summer of 2001. Of the many questions asked of us in the interviews for that first home study, I distinctly remember our social worker asking us if we had any Chinese art or anything with a Chinese theme in our home. I had to think about it a bit and told her no. Our social worker was born in Korea and adopted by an American family here 40 some years ago, recommended to us that it would be a good idea to start reading about China, some of it's history and bring something into our homes that we loved from that culture. I took her suggestion to heart and since that day have read about China and it's history and people. I wanted to learn everything I could about my daughter's birthplace. My daughter and son both had a history before they came to live with me. And so will yours. So I started to learn about Chinese art and the different themes of nature, how flowers and fish are frequently used, the Lion, the Rabbit, the Phoenix and the Dragon and what they represent. Those are just a few. I firmly believe that it's important to have a part of China's (or your child's birth country) culture in our homes. The above pictures show how I've brought some of China to my home. I can't explain my style of decorating other than it's eclectic and reflects our life, our travels and our family's history I suppose. I've been to China twice and I've been fortunate that my husband has traveled with his work quite a few times to China, Korea, Japan and Singapore and brought some things back too. But you can find Asian style items in antique shops and flea markets and in stores like World Market, Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel, Gumps(in San Francisco), stores in Chinatown in any major city and my ever favorites Target and Pier 1. You can find Asian inspired fabrics at any fabric store and if you're crafty you can sew something or if not, have it made. There are also websites like....Gumps, Wisteria and China Sprout.Start out small...maybe with one inexpensive item and see if you like it. My home by no means is all Asian in style. Grace and William actually play with the ceramic Fu (good luck) dogs that are in our entryway. When you travel to China buy what you can fit in your suitcases and ship some things home too. You'll see colorful folk art paintings, paper cutting, Chinese knots, embroidery, ceramics, jade carvings and jewelry, cloisonne, calligraphy, silk fabric, ink and wash paintings and countless other art forms. Your child's province will have something specific that it's known for. Grace's (Jiangxi) is known for a specific type of pottery. Will's (Fujian) is known for it's tea. I encourage you to celebrate your child's culture.