An Asian New Year celebration was presented by the Quincy branch of the South Shore YMCA, for the weekend preceding the Lunar New Year.

Parents who had adopted children from China were invited to participate in the program which featured Asian foods and traditional entertainment.

Sunny Kuo, YMCA director of Asian community services, said to the Boston Globe that the purpose of the event was to help those parents "immerse the children in their Asian culture."

In the area of the Quincy branch of the South Shore YMCA, there are at least 145 families that have adopted Chinese children. Starting last year, YMCA held special events for Chinese traditional New Year, for the Chinese children in order to keep them in touch with their culture.

Judy and Richard Collins have four children, with three of whom are adopted from China. Judy is also heading the South Shore Families with Children from China in her area. Their daughters, Brittany, 10, and Madison, 7, performed the Chinese Ribbon Dance for the celebration. This reportedly was the first dance their parents had taught them.

Same goes, for many other families whom have adopted Chinese children. The parents, sources say, are always trying to maintain the ties between the children and their country of birth.

Kuo said, it is important for the celebration to cross cultural lines to draw families who are not Asian so that they can learn about the heritage of others.

As China allowes foreigners to adopt Chinese orphans in the year 1992, the number of adopted Chinese children in the United States kept increasing. Since 1999, adoption of Chinese children represents the largest amongst all overseas adoptions.

According to data released by the Federal sources, in 2003, 6,859 Chinese children were adopted by American parents, accounting for 30% of all the foreign adoptions. So far, there are more than 40,000 Chinese children adopted in the United States alone.