Pregnancy
We have all heard of the one child policy associated with the Chinese culture. This policy has led to a lot of expecting mothers to terminate their pregnancies if the child is fetus. There are also many customs and superstitions that surround the Chinese culture; however the Chinese culture is very protecting of the expecting mother and child. During pregnancy there are many different customs relating to the behavior and the surrounding environment of the pregnant Chinese woman. The Chinese woman takes a very proactive approach in the term of their pregnancy. They believe that working with glue may cause birth complications and hammering nails is thought to harm and cause deformity to the fetus. During pregnancy the life the Chinese woman lives is very limited. The use of foul language must be avoided because it might curse the baby.
The diet associated with Chinese women is similar to the American women’s pregnancy. They believe herbal soups and nutritional foods should be consumed and other foods known as “sharp foods” will cause a miscarriage. They are discouraged from eating squid and crab, and overeating may cause a difficult delivery. They are also restricted from eating cold foods.
In the Chinese culture, if a baby is born disabled the mother is entirely responsible for the imperfections and the cause was due to the mother’s actions during her pregnancy. Given all these restrictions the Chinese women is encouraged to continue working as they believe this will make labor and delivery an easier process.
I also found that Chinese women have special rules to follow during their pregnancy. They are as follows:
- Don’t
tell others you’re pregnant in the first three months.
- Dot
move the bed while you’re pregnant-no physical work allowed.
- Don’t
clear any blocked drains.
- Don’t
raise one’s hand overhead and hang curtains.
- Don’t
do needlework or use scissors.
- Don’t
watch others while they’re painting walls.
- Don’t
hammer or knock things.
- Don’t
eat crab.
- Don’t
change the lock of rooms.
- Don’t
participate in wedding and funerals.
While you can see that there are a lot of superstitions that don’t really hold true to scientific proof. There are also a lot of prenatal practices similar to the North American culture such as prenatal vitamins, OB care, blood draw and routine OB visits.
Below is a video and chart of the Chinese gender calendar that dates back a thousand of years.