Like any child may feel, Kati was angry when Ken and Ruth admitted that they’d known about her biological parents for some time. Though she knew that she was adopted, she didn’t know that information regarding her birth parents that had been hidden from her all this time.
As it turns out, Kati’s birth parents were Xu Lida and Qian Fenxiang from Hangzhou, China. The couple had discovered that they were expecting their second child, another girl, despite a law that was put into place.
In order to aid with poverty and population control, couples would only be permitted to have one child. The couple considered their options, knowing that they could incur a wild amount of fees for having a second child. They hoped they might just get away with it.
The couple spent months consumed in paranoia. They were terrified that someone would notice Qian’s stomach and piece together the fact that she was pregnant with her second child. If this person wasn’t on their side, they would report it to the authorities.
As a precaution, the expecting mother hid in a houseboat on the Suzhou canal. She remained there, 75 miles from their hometown, for the final six weeks of her pregnancy. Then the day came when it was time for the baby to be delivered.
