Made in China

What happens when one side of the nature nurture equation is a mystery? Eva has always felt that she’s a product of her environment; her adoptive family, her upbringing - the life she remembers. But what if her birth family shaped her more than she realises? Eva explores how adoptees make sense of themselves when their genetic history is a mystery. She questions how much of who we are is shaped by...

How can Eva connect with Chinese culture, when she has no parents or family to guide her? Even though she looks Chinese, Eva didn’t feel Chinese growing up with a white British family in Essex. She’s often felt pressure to embody a version of ‘Chineseness’ she doesn’t feel connected to. Now she asks how she can bring her birth heritage into her everyday life on her own terms. Eva learns to stop fe...

What led to Eva being adopted by a British family, after she was born in China in 2000? Eva explores the social, political and cultural forces that shaped her life - and the lives of millions of girls like her. She discovers why the Chinese state limited the number of children each family was allowed, how the One Child Policy was enforced, and what its consequences were for society across China. S...

All Eva Brookes knows about the beginning of her story is that she was found by the side of the road in China when she was three days old. Thirteen months later she was adopted by a white British couple and travelled to her new home in Essex. Growing up in the UK, Eva felt British. But that’s not always how other people perceived her. For most of her life, she didn’t ask how that impacted her. She...

Born in China, raised in the UK, Eva Brookes asks how transracial adoption has shaped her. Found in China as a newborn and adopted by a white British family 13 months later, Eva grew up in Essex feeling British. But that's not always how other people perceived her. For most of her life, Eva didn't ask how that impacted her. She just tried to fit in - as a child, that felt safer than standing out....