Having a little lamb may be a blessing in disguise
Print Edition
CHINESE obstetricians always expect a lighter workload during the Year of Sheep, which began last Thursday.
“Not many people want to give birth in the Year of the Sheep,” said Duan Tao, director of the Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Hospital.
He has already seen a fall in the number of deliveries.
“In January, 2,330 women gave birth at my hospital, about 300 fewer than in December, and the number is still dropping,” he said.
The last two months of last year were strikingly different, he said. More than 2,600 children were born each month, which means about 80 women gave birth each day on average, and the busiest day saw 140 babies born.
Obstetrician Su Xiaoman, who has worked for three decades at the Taiyuan Maternity and Infant Hospital in Shanxi Province, said a similar year-end baby boom happened 12 years ago. She was not surprised when some expectant mothers requested C-sections before the Year of Sheep, which is traditionally viewed as inauspicious.
Su recalled a case many years ago, when a woman in her 30s was asked to abort her pregnancy by her mother-in-law, who thought a baby born in the Year of the Sheep would suffer misfortune. The abortion left her sterile for three years. She chose to divorce.
Such superstition also affects marriages. Some parents are disapproving if they learn their son’s girlfriend was born in the Year of the Sheep, believing a “sheep girl” is easily widowed.
In ancient China, marriages were arranged by parents. That custom has largely died out, but most Chinese still feel obliged to respect their families’ opinions. Some lie to their prospective in-laws about their year of birth.
Few people can explain why the Year of the Sheep is considered an unlucky birth year.
One common story is that the sheep is a timid animal, very weak and vulnerable to bullying. Another is that critics of the Empress Dowager Cixi and her traitorous minister Yuan Shikai in the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) insisted their zodiac signs were sheep and a danger to the country.
The lunar calendar has a 12-year cycle, with each year assigned an animal symbol: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.
Baby booms often come in the Year of Dragon, as Chinese believe they are descendants of the dragon. The horse, in Chinese culture, symbolizes success, resulting in another baby boom.
Folklorists say the sheep used to represent good luck before the Qing Dynasty. Many Chinese idioms containing the character “yang,” referring to sheep, imply auspicious omens.
“Three sheep bring bliss” is a typical example.
The eighth zodiac animal is not a fragile lamb, argued historian Zhang Congjun.
The animal played a very important role in both the farming and nomadic civilizations.
“Three thousand years ago, ancient people would engrave events on sheep bones,” Zhang said.
In 2012, a researcher on the role of sheep in Chinese culture claimed the earliest people on the land worshipped them.
Better-educated young Chinese are less inclined to superstition today.
Zhang Xingyue, 28, is four months’ pregnant and her baby will be born in the Year of the Sheep. Unlike earlier generations, she saw this as a blessing.
“Fewer people born this year means more opportunities in schooling and jobs,” she said.
It sounds reasonable. According to official figures, 200,000 children in Beijing entered primary schools last year, twice the number of 2009. As Chinese children usually start school at the age of six, most of the 2009 intake were born in 2003, a Year of the Sheep.
Lu Fangfang was born in 1990, a Year of the Horse, but has struggled to find success.
She sat the college entrance exam in 2008 along with a record 10.5 million others. After her graduation she sent her resume to 40 firms, looking for a top job, before eventually lowering her sights and accepting a position in a bank.
But demographers say the influence of the zodiac animals on birthrates is diminishing.
“The birthrate of this Year of the Sheep might be higher than that of the Year of the Horse,” said Professor Yuan Xin from Tianjin-based Nankai University.
Last year, 16.9 million babies were born in China. This year, Yuan forecast, the number could hit 17 million due to more couples being allowed to have a second child.
There might be a large flock of sheep this year, Yuan said.
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