Love Across Borders, Healing in Reunion | A Recap of MBL’s 7th Adoption Dialogue

At the Mothers’ Bridge of Love (MBL)’s seventh Adoption Dialogue, we witnessed a reunion that spanned time and distance. Hannah, a British Chinese adoptee, and her biological younger brother Zhu Fan from China shared how, after twenty-eight years apart, their families finally met again.

Chaired by Siwei — a PhD candidate at SOAS, University of London, and an MBL volunteer — the event drew adoptees, adoptive parents, and supporters from around the world. The programme ran bilingually with simultaneous Chinese–English interpretation.

Hannah traced her journey from adoption to adulthood and, ultimately, to discovering her birth family through DNA matching. She recalled the first moments of reunion at Heathrow: “It felt like a film — almost as if fate rewrote itself in that instant.” Speaking from China, Zhu Fan described years of longing and the joy of finally embracing his sister.

Beyond a moving personal story of searching and reunion, the dialogue sparked thoughtful reflection on love, identity, and belonging. During a lively Q&A, participants asked Hannah about identity formation, navigating cultural differences, and sustaining family ties across countries and languages.

To close, MBL volunteer Tongyu Li introduced the forthcoming “Roots & Heritage Journey” — a guided programme that will take international Chinese adoptees back to China to visit their places of origin and engage more deeply with cultural roots and the meaning of “going home.”

MBL’s founder Xinran offered this reflection:
“Reunion is more than a bond of blood—it is a meeting of cultures, languages, and feelings. We hope every adoptee and every family finds the love and understanding that are truly theirs.”

Click here to watch the full replay and revisit the tender conversation across borders.