Y’all, I am so very excited. We are just a week or two away from *ahem* finally finishing the Tongginator’s 100 Good Wishes quilt. I know, I know, it’s about four-and-a-half years late, but better late than never. Right?

If y’all have yet to hear of a 100 Good Wishes quilt, know that it is a regional custom within China that the China-adoption community began embracing several years ago… kind of like the Red Thread story, but with historical accuracy. (Because the Red Thread thing? It’s actually about two lovers, not a parent and child. Plus, it weaves together that whole fate in adoption thing that can often get sticky. Not that I don’t have a Red Thread magnet on my fridge… because I totally do.)

Anyways, where was I?

Ah, yes, the 100 Good Wishes Quilt. Many families adopting internationally from China create 100 Good Wishes Quilts, or Bai Jia Bei, for their children. In Mandarin, it’s 百家被, which literally means 100 Family Quilt, or a quilt united by 100 families. The tradition originated in the northern part of China in Tianjin, which sits within China’s Hebei Province, just south of Beijing.  There are some reports that this custom is also fairly common within Hunan Province.

This provincial custom involves asking friends and family to contribute a patch of cloth with a wish for the baby.   It’s unclear as to whether the wish itself is symbolic or an actual physical note in China; however, the wishes are always written down within the China adoption community.  Most of the patch of cloth goes into the quilt (bai jia bei) or a quilted coat (bai jia yi) for the baby.  These patches are square, diamond or triangular in shape.  A small section of the cloth patch goes into a memory book or chest, with the wish for the child written on paper and placed with the cloth square.  The friend or family member will attach these two pieces together so that the child can later identify who gifted them with the cloth, and what the cloth represents to the giver.  The quilt or coat contains the luck, energy, prayers and good wishes from all the families and friends who contributed pieces of fabric.  The quilt is then passed down from generation to generation.

Some believe that the custom is rooted in attitudes resulting from the teachings of this proverb: “The more sufferings one endures, the better a person one becomes.” Therefore, giving a child the newly-sewn but threadbare-in-appearance bai jia bei or bai jia yi expresses the notion that sufficient poverty, suffering and hard times have gone before, leaving this newcomer rightfully entitled to long life, prosperity and a generally easier go at things in life.  The Chinese have long associated a mother’s sewing or embroidery with love and good wishes, most probably because of the eighth century “Song of a Wandering Son” by Meng Jiao.

So why did the China-adoption community embrace this wonderfully charming, yet somewhat obscure regional tradition within China? Well, probably because it’s all about community. It’s a way of welcoming an adopted child into his or her new life, surrounded by the good wishes of many, many loved ones. My favorite part of creating this quilt was collecting the wishes and fabric squares from relatives, friends and even strangers within the China-adoption community. Pictured below are just a few of the 100 wishes the Tongginator received… from us, her godparents, two of our China travelmates, one blogging buddy, my DTC group secret pal and a China-adoptive family I’ve never met.

To learn more about this custom among the Chinese adoption community, check out the Yahoo! group OHGWQ, “One Hundred Good Wishes Quilt,” the quilting book “100 Good Wishes” by Tracy Sharpton and Elaina Fiedler, or the children’s book “A Quilt of Wishes” by Teresa Orem Werner.  You can also find a reference to this custom in the fictional book “Imperial Women” by Pearl S. Buck: “From the head of each of the highest one hundred families in the Empire, she required a bolt of the finest silk. From the silks she commanded the palace tailors to cut one hundred small pieces & from these make a robe for her child. Thus he belonged, by symbol, to 100 strong and noble families, and under their shelter, the gods would fear to harm him.”