The charts below uses the data from Ralph Stirling's database and shows the history of waiting times from DTC to referral from 1996 - 2006.

This first graph shows the data colored by referral year. 

This next chart shows the moving average.  To make the chart a bit more clear, we have reduced the data so that only one point appears for each day (this is the average waiting time for that DTC day.  This step was necessary to reduce the clutter of the chart and make the average line more visible for this large dataset.

For a historical viewpoint, here are a few key dates for interpretation:
 

Year	Event (Source: http://www.familyhelper.net/news/china.html)
1996	CCAA became China’s central authority for international adoption (Jun)
1998	Amendments to adoption law were approved (Nov)
2001	Quota system implemented to help regulate the rate of applications (Dec)
2002	Slowdown continues due to growing popularity of China’s program
2002	Quota lifted after goal of controlling “excessive growth” realized (Nov)
2003	First case of SARS noted in Toronto (Feb).  China introduces six-week suspension of file processing & referrals (May 15 – Jun 24)
2005	Adoptions temporarily halted from Hunan province following baby-trafficking investigations (Nov)
2006	Convictions of orphanage director from Hunan province and eight others. (Feb)
2006	Additional financial and medical restrictions placed upon potential adoptive families (May)