P1 An overview of childbirth in urban China (1) Maternal state In the old days of China, there was a strong emphasis on foetal education. What is foetal education? To better prepare for the baby’s physical and mental health, the expectant mother would undergo gefang (‘room separation’ i.e., pelvic rest) with the father, since the first sign of baby bump, usually around the end of the first trimester of the pregnancy. During this period, special attention must be paid to the expectant mother’s daily activities, for example, avoidance of all kinds of exercises, so as not to exhaust the mother. On the one hand, she should be comforted mentally by given all sorts of arts, crafts, literature and musical works including novels, embroidery and drawings etc. in the spare time. On the other hand, she is provided with infant outfits, gears and equipment in preparation of the baby’s arrival. P2 All these are meant for her spiritual fulfilment and cultivation, so that the child may be brought up well. Gestational diet is particularly concerned, that the food must be easy to digest, nourished with nutritional supplements. In one or two months prior to the childbirth, additional attentiveness and precaution must be observed. The midwife visits and cares for the mother frequently towards the full term of pregnancy. (2) The state of the birth The expectant mother’s closest caregivers, of course, are her mother-in-law, mother and the midwife, who often look after her. P3 She should be able to relate to the experience of her mother-in-law and her maternal mother who both had given birth to children. Soon, the mother will enter the stage of linpen (labour). What is meant by linpen? When the woman is ready to give birth, a pen (basin) is placed on top of the ruzi (birth mattress), and that lin (to arrive) phrases it up as ‘arrival to the basin’. The purpose of this is to receive the water from the birth canal (the amniotic fluid) and so on. Sometimes, when the mother is weak or in a difficult labour, a rich family will prepare shenshui (ginseng water) to help her recover energy and facilitate the labour. Right after the delivery, the baby is received by hand by the shoushengpo (Midwife. Shou,‘to receive’; sheng, ‘birth’; po, ‘old lady’), and the umbilical cord is cut by scissors. P4 The child is then washed with the prepared aizishui (mugwort water) and wrapped in the pre-arranged gezi (Cloth diaper. Ge, originally refers to the front lapel of jacket, or monk’s robe.). During the day and night, the baby is not given any food or drink in order to defecate before having kaikounai (First milk. Kaikou, ‘to open the mouth’). Sometimes, prior to being fed with kaikounai, the baby is given a small amount of huanglianshui (water boiled with golden thread, coptis japonica) for detoxing purpose. Then the baby is fed with milk again. (3) Xi-san (Washing on the third day after birth) On the third day, the baby is officially bathed. P5 Close relatives and friends such as aunts and uncles who want to celebrate for the new-born are allowed to enter and leave the maternity ward from this day onwards, while those who are not here today (i.e., general relatives and friends) are forbidden to enter and leave the maternity ward during the whole month. Three days after the childbirth, the grandparents give the relatives and friends a special gift of chicken eggs dyed in red and placed in a box, as a prosperous notice of delivering the good news of a new-born baby. At the same time, the relatives and friends provide gifts to celebrate the baby birth, such as pork knuckles, jizi (rooster’s testicle), brown sugar, and kang-roo (baked wheat cake, a kind of dim sum in Beijing). P6 (4) Banmanyue (One month old celebration) A formal ceremony is held to celebrate the baby’s first full month after birth. (30 days from the first day of the baby's birth). The mother steps out of the delivery room and introduces the baby to everyone, followed by a celebratory feast.
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