^^^
1 - What is the normal process for obtaining a birth certificate in China? Does it involve liaison with some type of government department?
I found
this academic paper which discusses these issues. I hope it's accurate. It first defines the concept of Birth Registration (BR), pn Page 3:
In China, BR refers to the system that records a child’s birth, testifies to its citizenship, and registers its permanent residence, known as Hukou, by the household registration department (Wang, 2001). Hukou registration is the only symbol that BR has been carried out and completed, and Hukou registration is one of the most important components of the household management system in China. A child cannot acquire most of his or her rights without Hukou registration.
It goes on to specify the criteria for obtaining BR:
The references that need to be provided when applying for BR include a medical birth certificate (MBC) issued by the Public Health (PH) department, a birth certificate (BC) issued by the Population and Family Planning (PFP) department, and the parents’ Hukou booklets or identity cards issued by Public Security (PS) departments.
So this discussion with Joe needs to distinguish between BR and the BC.
Joe, on Hai Feng's new birth-certificate, is the information on it accurate and correct? For example, who does it name as her mother? Your wife, or the biological mother?
Also, does she have BR and Hukuo registration?
In this case, I'm inferring that your daughter has a fake birth-certificate bought on the black market.
Do correct me if I'm wrong.
I don't know how you got that idea.
<sigh> Here we go again. Perhaps it might be connected to the language you used? You said:
And I would love to hear about how, in the absence of any "adoption authorities," in an exceptionally bureaucratic communist country, this abandoned child managed to get a birth certificate. Which Joe claims she has.
"Exceptionally bureaucratic", haha. I can buy a passport right down the street. You don't have a fucking clue what you're talking about.
1. In the UK passports are 'applied for', not 'bought'.
2. And you can't obtain a passport here 'down the street' - only from a central national agency (the Identity and Passport Service, which is part of the Home Office). Same in China (the Exit and Entry Administration, part of the Ministry of Public Security). The colloquial expression 'down the street' means 'anywhere'.
So when you say, "I can buy a passport right down the street", that implies obtaining fake certification from the black market. I don't see any other way of interpreting the sentence. Perhaps you could re-phrase it so that it expresses what you meant more clearly?