Today almost all healthy infants and toddlers living in China’s welfare institutions will find loving adoptive families, either in China or abroad. The majority of older children and those with special needs will not.

By the end of 2009, Half the Sky will be operating its nurturing programs for orphaned children at 45 welfare institutions across China.

Right now, in China, Half the Sky operates 16 permanent family villages for orphaned children whose physical and developmental challenges will preclude them from being adopted.

Right now in China, Half the Sky employs 624 nannies, 306 teachers, 63 local supervisors, and 56 field and office staff, all working to bring nurturing programs to orphaned children.

Half the Sky operates programs at six welfare institutions in Hunan Province: at Shaoyang, Yueyang, Chenzhou, Xiangtan and at two different orphanages in Yiyang.

In Half the Sky city, Luoyang, Henan, a large number of sacrificial horse burial pits have recently been discovered. Horses and wagons were apparently buried right along with their owners to indicate the status of the deceased.

Half the Sky city, Fuzhou (or Linchuan) is in an essentially poor part of Jiangxi province but there is enough to keep you busy-- roller-skating, bowling, the waterpark, a walk by the river or stroll through the People's Park. Noodles for lunch cost only 2RMB, while a meal with fish, rice and vegetable costs about five. An 80-minute foot massage is just 30 kuai (about US$4)!

In 1997, Half the Sky city, Chongqing, made honking car horns illegal. Impatient motorists must wait quietly in traffic, even when temperatures outside soar to over 38°C (100°F) in this famous 'furnace' city.

Citizens of Half the Sky city, Chenzhou, are very proud that their hometown is also the hometown of the fabulous Chinese Women's Volleyball Team. The team, which won the world championship five consecutive years, has a hotel named in its honor in Chenzhou: The Five Champions Guesthouse.

In the summer of 2000, the city of Changzhou, Jiangsu became the home of Half the Sky's very first programs. Besides its HTS programs, Changzhou is most famous for its beautifully hand-crafted wooden combs.

During the Five Dynasties era (907-960 AD), Half the Sky city, Chengdu, was for a time the capital of China, and hibiscus was planted all along the city wall. Because of this, it then became known as the City of Furong or Hibiscus. And that's why you'll still see trees and flowers everywhere when you visit today.

Flying Pigeons (FeiGe) are hatched at HTS' city Tianjin Bicycle Company, which was originally an artillery factory created by Japanese occupying forces in 1936. After the Communists came to power in 1949, the bicycle industry was revived. In the early 1950s, Chairman Mao's heir apparent Liu Shaoqi paid a visit to the factory and commanded that it become the first bicycle manufacturer in New China. Now FeiGe flys wherever bikes still survive the city streets.

Nervous students on their way to exams may wish to stop by the east well of the Dongpo Pavilion, built in honor of Su Dongpo, a famous poet of the Song Dynasty (960-1127) in Half the Sky city, Beihai, Guangxi. A sip from the well is said to insure perfect test scores!

A friend is the one who enters in when the whole world has departed.

With time and patience, the mulberry leaf becomes a silk gown.

Tell me and I'll forget.
Show me and I may remember.
Involve me and I'll understand.

If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap.
If you want happiness for a day, go fishing.
If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune.
If you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody.

Be not afraid of growing slowly; be afraid only of standing still.