I noticed a link to the article on http://defreses.blogspot.com/ when I was looking for info. on Chinese New Year events in Alabama.

Cost puts damper on this Olympic event

For many Americans with adopted Chinese children, dreams of a visit during the Games in Beijing prove too pricey.
By Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
January 2, 2008
BEIJING -- It seemed like a good idea. Bring your adopted Chinese daughters (and they're almost all daughters) back to Beijing to experience the glories of the 2008 Summer Olympics, connect with the homeland and watch the Middle Kingdom at a key moment in its history.

Then parents started checking the prices, which can run to $15,000 per person or more, including airfare, inflated hotel bills and tickets.

"The Olympics are great exposure for China, which is changing so quickly," Brandon Cozier, from Houston, said recently outside the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou with his wife, Juliette, having come to pick up Kyra, their second adopted daughter. "But $15,000 is almost as much as we spent for her adoption."

For the rest of the article:
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-olympics2jan02,1,3704914.story?coll=la-news-a_section

Labels: China Olympics