Alice Evans, Holt Managing Editor of Publications

Nanchang, China—Brilliant blues and greens flash in the soft light. All around me, swirls of laughing children are sword fighting with peacock feathers. Seated on benches the quieter children eat oranges and hold tightly to their regal, shimmering feathers—one for each child. So many colors, so many young lives.

We are on a boat in the Shang Zhua Lun National Park gliding from island to island. Monkeys on one island and peacocks another, child contortionists and crooning singers who can moonwalk like Michael Jackson, each island an enchantment for the children. They flee the haunted house but applaud the silly antics of a slapstick comedian. And food, glorious food, plate after plate of steaming hot food at a nearby restaurant.

“We bring them here to help make them whole,” says Jian Chen, director of the Holt International China Program. “These children are very well off compared to many others. Read the rest of this entry »