Transracial adoption- the right thing to do?

OK, so we're a white European family (with children), thinking about local adoption in HK. I guess we plan to return to Europe in a few years. The question is, are we going to harm a child with a transracial, transcultural adoption? Even if we stay, we don't speak much Chinese- although we're trying and have local friends. I wonder how Chinese people here view kids with a Chinese appearance who are raised in a European family? Whatever my own feelings about wanting to adopt, is it the right thing to do? I've read various stuff on the web, but I still don't know. What do you think?

I was adopted by my australian parents as a newborn. I was the third and only adopted child in my family. My siblings are all fair blonde and blue eyed and while I don't know what race I am, I have medium brown skin with dark eyes and hair. I would guess I am a racial mix and have been asked if I am everything from spanish to goan to eurasian. It has never really bothered me that much. In fact my beautiful non adopted sister had a lot more angst growing up over the size and shape of her nose than I had about my aesthetic mismatch to my family.

I also have both biological and adopted children of my own although my adopted children share their race with my husband. One thing I did was keep the first name their biological parents gave them even if it wasn't a name I would have liked otherwise. I see it as something their biological parents gave them that I have no right to take away. I also wouldn't want them to think I was trying to westernise them. As for language there are many asian children around the world who only speak english. I have a friend here in tokyo whose korean daughter only speaks french and she seems fine.

I think parents will worry about harming their children whether they be biological or adopted and a child left in a orphange has possibly much greater challenges to face than race mismatch. Good luck with your decision if made for the right reasons I am sure everything will turn out fine.

PS.

I think to this day my parents worry about how my adoption affected me. As a child they took me adoptee playgroups, pointed me in the direction of other adoptees a potential friends, bought me books about it and even now still take the contact details of every adopoted person they ever meet just incase I may want to get in contact. At a point in my life I may have wanted to scream "Adoption is one tiny part of who I am. Not the be all and end all of who I am" but later in life I realised they do it because they worry about me. I am maybe less inclined to worry about these things with my own adopted children because this particular part of their path I walked before them.

Thanks- what a helpful reply! I appreciate your taking the time to share your personal story, which is much more powerful than lots of theory. Several things you've said will stay with me as we go forwards. Thanks for the good wishes