Reunion on a front lawn in United States for ‘sisters’ adopted from China

The two little girls slept in adjacent cots at orphanage in Henan province, shared a nanny and called each other ‘meimei’ – Mandarin for sister

JuJu was adopted by parents in Phoenixville, but she missed PeiPei and asked for her every morning. They saw each other again when JuJu turned four

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JuJu and PeiPei were both adopted by American couples. The little girls were not biological sisters, but they were just as close. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 11:06pm, 14 Oct 2019Updated: 9:50pm, 15 Oct 2019

JuJu and PeiPei were more than best friends. From early infancy, the girls lived together at the Lily Orphan Care Centre in Henan province, central China. They slept in adjacent cots. They shared a nanny.

As soon as they learned to talk, JuJu and PeiPei called each other meimei, Mandarin for “sister”. They were not biological sisters, but they were just as close.

Meimei was one of three words that JuJu, then three years old, knew when, in July last year, she met Amanda and Alex Frangoulis, of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, who had travelled to China to adopt her. (The two other words were baba, which means daddy, and xiexie, which is thank you.)

So, it was entirely understandable that when JuJu came home with her parents, she missed her meimei, more than 11,000km (7,000 miles) away.

We would have to look at PeiPei’s photo every day, and she would just sit there and sob, because she knew that her best friend was still in China

JuJu’s mother

“Every morning, she would ask for PeiPei,” her mother said. “We would have to look at PeiPei’s photo every day, and she would just sit there and sob, because she knew that her best friend was still in China.”