Woman, 71, adopted & taken to China at age 1, now looking for biological family in S'pore

A 71-year-old woman, who has been living in China for seven decades, is looking for her biological family in Singapore.

This was after the woman, Kang Yu'e (transliteration of 康玉娥), found out that she was adopted at age one, when her biological father's sworn brother took her from Singapore to Fujian, China and raised her there.

The fact that she had been adopted was only made known to her when she got married years later, which caused her to be angry with her adoptive father.

Her quest to reunite with her siblings was reported by Shin Min Daily News (Shin Min).

Her 26-year-old grandson tipped the Singapore Chinese-language media off about his grandmother's bid to find her siblings.

Has 7 siblings in Singapore

According to her grandson, Kang was born in 1953 in Singapore and has seven siblings in total: An older brother, four older sisters, a younger sister and a younger brother.

Her father's sworn brother was named Zheng Shui Gen (transliteration of 郑水根).

The grandson provided other details about his grandmother, such as her having grown up in Longhai District, in Tangshan, and later marrying her husband and moving to Guanxun Township, Zhangpu County, in Fujian province.

Found out she was adopted when she got married

"It was only when she got married that she realised she was adopted," the grandson revealed.

Kang was very angry with her adoptive father for keeping the origins of her birth secret for so many years.

She cut off contact with him and took to using the name given to her by her biological parents.

Corresponded with Singapore family previously

Once the truth was out, Kang's adoptive father gave her the address of her biological family in Singapore.

Up till 1985, Kang corresponded with them via letters.

But they lost contact subsequently.

The last address of her family in Singapore was listed as Block 32 Jalan Rumah Tinggi, in the Bukit Merah area.

The grandson told Shin Min that his grandmother's father was named Kang Sheng (transliteration of 康胜), her mother was Jen Yea Len (transliteration of 郑亚能/ 郑亚宁), her brother was Kang Tianping (transliteration of 康天平), her two sisters were Kang Yulan (transliteration of 康玉兰) and Kang Yuyan (transliteration of 康玉燕), and her younger brother was Kang Tianjin (transliteration of 康天矜).

The grandson also said there have been no physical meet-ups between Kang and her biological family — only an exchange of letters and physical photographs.

Unfortunately, a family portrait of her biological parents and siblings got lost when Kang moved house.

The grandson further revealed that past correspondences saw his grandmother's biological family sending money to her in China.

This gesture, he said, showed they had cared deeply about her even after many years had passed.

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Top photo via Shin Min Daily News