Imagine your worst nightmare as a newcomer to China: you’ve lost your passport, all your identification papers, your phone, you don’t have any money, and don’t understand Chinese.
This is only the beginning for a mystery woman from Uzbekistan who doesn’t have the ability to speak, and recently gave birth to a baby boy whose father has disappeared. Nobody knows her name or when she even came to China.
Blogger haonowshaokao first brought up the story in September, and little has been learned of her since then.
Here’s what the authorities know so far.
The woman was seen on surveillance video pacing back and forth at Baiyun International Airport. When she was discovered to be pregnant and overdue to deliver her baby, the woman was sent to Baiyun Hospital on September 22. She gave birth to a healthy baby boy the next day.
Mothers with newborns are usually discharged after three or four days, but as Sina reports, the woman was kept at the hospital because she had nowhere else to go.
Medical staff were unable to communicate with her using Cantonese, Putonghua, English, or Russian. Her nationality was only discovered by chance when a Uzbek patient began speaking, and she answered questions by nodding.
It turns out the woman is from Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. She had broken up with the child’s father last March, but decided to come to Guangdong with him in June to do business. The woman lost contact with the man around September 22.
The woman’s only wish is to return to Uzbekistan with her child. However, if that happens, it won’t be with the help of her own country. There is no Uzbekistan consulate in Guangzhou, and the one in Shanghai says it can’t confirm if she’s actually a national so won’t offer any help.
Photos: Sina Cantonese Report, haonowshaokao