“Where Do I Come From?” — A Dutch Girl’s Cross-Border Search for Her Roots | “我来自哪里？”荷兰女孩的跨国寻亲之路

“Lately, I’ve found myself asking more questions about my past — about where I come from.”

These were the words of Isabel Maas (Chinese name: Jiang Yixiu), a 27-year-old woman from the Netherlands, during an online interview with local journalists in Yixing, Jiangsu.

Born in 1998, Isabel was found in front of the Yixing People’s Hospital in 1999 and later placed in the Yixing Social Welfare Centre. A year later, she was adopted by her Dutch parents and brought to the Netherlands. Today, she lives in the city of Tilburg, in a loving family with six adopted children from around the world — including China, Brazil, Haiti, and Sri Lanka.

From an early age, Isabel’s adoptive parents were open and honest about her story, helping her explore her Chinese heritage through books, films, and museum visits. As she grew older, her curiosity deepened: she longed to understand her roots, to know what had happened in the first years of her life, and to reconnect with her birth family in China.

Last summer, she began reaching out to Chinese organisations that help adoptees trace their families, submitting her DNA for matching and leaving a public appeal on the “Ping’an Yixing” WeChat account. The city’s media centre and local police soon took action to assist her search.

To everyone’s surprise, the former director of the Yixing Social Welfare Centre, Ms. Lu Huazhen, still remembered her clearly:

“‘Jiang’ and ‘Yi’ stand for Jiangsu Yixing, and ‘Xiu’ was chosen because she looked so delicate and lovely.”

When Isabel learned the story behind her Chinese name, she was moved to tears.

“Even if I never meet them again, I’ll always keep a special place in my heart for my birth parents. If one day I can reconnect with them, it would mean the world to me.”

Isabel now plans to return to Yixing next spring to visit the place where her life began.

💞 The Mothers’ Bridge of Love (MBL) invites readers to join this “search relay.”
If you have any information that could help Isabel find her birth parents, please contact us by filling out the “Get in touch” form on our home page or call +86 189 6180 8348.

You can also leave a comment below the video here. 

Together, let’s help love find its way home.

“最近，我对自己的过去、对‘我来自哪里’产生了更多疑问……”
27岁的荷兰女孩江宜秀（Isabel Maas）在视频连线中这样说道。

她出生于1998年，1999年在宜兴市人民医院门口被发现并被送入宜兴市社会福利中心，一年后被荷兰养父母收养。如今，她生活在荷兰蒂尔堡，成长在一个有六位来自世界不同国家的被领养孩子组成的家庭。

从小，养父母就以开放、真诚的态度告诉她关于收养的故事，也陪伴她一起了解中国的文化与历史。随着年龄增长，江宜秀愈发渴望了解自己的“根”，想知道自己来自哪里，也希望与生身父母重新建立联系。

去年夏天起，她开始与中国多家寻亲机构联系，提供DNA样本进行比对，并在“平安宜兴”微信公众号留言求助。宜兴融媒体中心记者得知后，立即协助她与当地警方展开寻亲。

令人惊喜的是，当年的福利中心负责人路华珍仍清晰记得她：“‘江’和‘宜’代表江苏宜兴，‘秀’是因为她长得很秀气。”得知中文名字的由来后，江宜秀激动不已：“即使无法再见，我也永远为他们留着一个特殊的位置。如果能重新联系上他们，那就像拥有了全世界。”

她计划于明年春天回到宜兴，看看童年生活过的地方。

💞 母爱桥呼吁更多人加入“寻亲接力”：
若您知晓江宜秀生身父母的相关线索，
请联系我们，或致电 18961808348。
也可前往视频号【看宜兴】观看视频《扩散！荷兰女孩宜兴寻亲》并留言。