"For an Op-Ed written by the author Lisa See, about an interesting piece of American history; the paper son phenomenon. Her story described the situation many Chinese American families found themselves in after the San Francisco earthquake and fire in 1906 destroyed California's birth records. Many Chinese men (who were prohibited from becoming naturalized citizens) claimed to be born in the US and were given papers allowing their children to come to the country. The papers would often end up allowing children with no parents in the US to come to the country to be raised by families that were paid by the child's real parents. The child would be raised by his new American family, often times never knowing that he was related only on paper, that his biological parents were still in China."