About Shanghai
As a International city located in East China, at the middle part of the coast, and sits at the mouth of the Yangtze River in China, Shanghai has a deep influence in commerce, finance, culture, art, fashion, research and entertainment.
In history, Shanghai was once a fishing and textiles town until 19 century, for its favorable port location and was one of the cities opened to foreign trade by the 1842 Treaty of Nanking. Then, it became an important centre of commerce between east and west and a multinational hub of finance and business in the 1930s. In 1990, the reform and opening up policy, which was introduced by Deng Xiaoping, brought a prosperous re-development of Shanghai.
Nowadays, Shanghai is the largest centre of commerce and finance in mainland China and enjoys the high reputation as the "showpiece" of the world's fastest-growing major economy. Meanwhile, it is predicted to become one of the world's main global financial centers, on the level of even London and New York in this regard.
Moreover, Shanghai is also a popular tourist destination renowned for its historical landmarks such as The Bund and Yuyuan Garden, Jade Buddha Temple etc. with the 2010 World Expo, Shanghai attracted over 73 million visitors at that year.
Collection of Shanghai Orphanages
Based in China, Lead to China works closely with Chinese Government and Social Welfare Institutes throughout China. This section contains detailed information like each orphanage address, photos, travel stories, visit arrangement, and travel tips.
Get Inspirations
Having no idea how to start your China homeland tour? Don't worry! You can get inspirations from our hand-picked private tour, or join the group tour with other families, even let us to customize a trip for you.
11 Days Shanghai Children Reunion Heritage Tour
- We can arrange the visiting to Shanghai orphanages
- Famous places like Great Wall/ Giant Panda/ Terracotta Amy are all covered
- Private guide/ vehicle and diver offer you valued sevice
- No forced shopping activities
Small Groups: 2024 LTC Heritage Tours-A
Summer Schedule: Jun 10th, Jun 24th
Customize Your Own Return Trip
Tips for a China Orphanage Visit
When you plan to have a China return trip, you'd better prepare a gift for other children in the orphanage. You can ask our travel consultant about the details and buy some gifts several days before your trip or you can buy that after your arrival in China if you're inconvenient for the excessive baggage. The guide from LeadtoChina will give you proper suggestions and help you to buy these. If you're confused about what items the SWI need, here are some good examples: snacks, or a basket of fruit, backpack, books or other school supplies. You are also suggested to buy fans and air conditioning in summer in some poor SWI. Most of the SWI will give you a present in return for memory.
Many families care about the donation, and if you want to do this, we suggest you to exchange the donated money for RMB and show this to the director of the SWI. Some SWI will issue a donation certificate to you but not every SWI will do this.
According to the size of the SWI and the frequency of the families' return, the visit can be the most important thing for the staff or a small part of the orphanage's routine work. You can talk to your child about the actual situation you've known to let them make enough preparations. You'd better tell them what will happen and what to do if things are not the same as they expected. They should keep a flexible attitude towards life and enjoy the process instead of following a certain model to start as things are not exactly what we think and this is very important. One more important point which is often ignored is that most of the orphanage children always have various special needs. It is better to consider this before visiting and your child should know that some children in the SWI have physical or mental disability. All these can provide a better atmosphere for the children with special needs in the orphanage during your return visit.
If you'd love to invite the orphanage director to lunch, please don't forget other people in the SWI as they are usually the director's assistants. If you want to invite the caregiver or nanny, you'd better extend the invitation through the director to request the consent out of courtesy. Our guide can help you to do this and convey your invitation accurately and politely. What's more, some of the orphanages will offer you free lunch but many SWI will charge you for about 100 USD as lunch fee. You can inquire about this through your trip consultant before travelling.
At last, some Chinese individuals act turgidly in front of you for not losing face. But most people follow traditional Chinese values, modesty and gentleness. Bearing this in mind can help you deal with problems in different situations successfully during your return visit.
