Li Ning lurches forward, revealing a jagged scar running across his head from a recent operation. At three days old, he was found in the street with a scrawled note attached to his smock: “We are sorry we cannot be his parents. Please give him the life we cannot.”
Around him are four other toddlers: one is epileptic, one has cataracts, another has Down’s syndrome and one has crippling heart problems. They slither about on the grimy tiles of the orphanage floor. Dirt, small scratches and lesions cover arms that reach out hopefully to any adult who comes near.
The orphanage is bleak, but it represents survival. While the rest of China celebrates Children’s Day today, those sitting in the orphanage doorway are fortunate to