Adopted girl's essay moves thousands online

An essay by a 12-year-old girl, read aloud by her uncle in a video, has recently gone viral, touching thousands of netizens and earning over 20,000 likes. Many were moved by the family’s resilience and kindness in the face of hardship.

A photo of Jiajia. Southern Metropolis Daily

The girl, named Jiajia, lost her father to liver cancer in 2024. Originally from Shandong Province, she had been living with her mother, who has a disability and struggled to provide for her.

“My father’s death left a hole in my heart. After watching him fight for five months, he became just a photo in an album — gone forever,” Jiajia wrote in her essay titled “My Second Dad.”

“I cried myself to sleep every night and didn’t want to speak to anyone. I felt like a weed torn from the earth, blowing in the wind with no direction,” the essay continues.

Her aunt and uncle in Shenzhen decided to adopt Jiajia so she could live with them. Shortly after her father’s passing in 2024, her aunt, Ms. Lyu, invited Jiajia to spend the summer with their family, helping her adjust to a new environment and city life. ”After two months together, I felt even more certain about taking on this responsibility,” Lyu said.

Over the following months, the couple made repeated trips between Shenzhen and Shandong to complete the legal adoption process. “We had to provide documents from the village authorities and statements from relatives to prove we were her only reliable guardians,” Lyu explained. Eventually, a judge granted them legal guardianship.

After further paperwork and effort, they succeeded in enrolling Jiajia in a public school in Futian District.

Lyu’s husband admitted that welcoming Jiajia was a greater challenge than he had anticipated. “Moving from rural Shandong to Shenzhen means adapting to a completely new setting, and children can sometimes be unkind to someone new and shy,” he said.

“I used to love playing basketball back home, but at the new school, some boys would deliberately throw the ball hard at me, leaving my head aching,” Jiajia wrote. “When my uncle found out, he came to school and stood up for me. He also makes time to play basketball with me.

“In two months, I’ve gained weight — from 32.5 to 37.5 kilos — and grown taller. My uncle’s love may not be earth-shattering, but it’s real. I feel it in the sweat he sheds playing basketball with me and in every meal he cooks,” she added.

According to Chinese media, the uncle, formerly a sales manager at a real estate agency, recently lost his job. Despite this, he has declined offers of financial help from concerned netizens.

However, some online observers have raised doubts, suggesting he may be using the attention to promote his personal WeChat channel, where he sells New Year’s red envelopes, paper cups, and decorations.