Boy, girl, left, right, salty, sweet, who can tell?
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Traditional Chinese medicine claims an expectant mother's pulse alters while she's carrying a child. The theory goes "boy left, girl right," echoing traditional gender associations with handedness. If there's a boy, the left pulse beats faster and more vigorously than the right.
Other folk traditions claim to identify gender according to the belly shape of expectant mothers, their taste preferences during pregnancy, and subtle changes in their appearances. Even the lunar dates involved are drafted in to make predictions.
For example, if the belly shape of an expectant mother is pointed, she's having a boy, if rounded, a girl. Small bellies mean boys, large ones girls. If feet swell early, a girl, if they swell late, a boy. If the mother's nose gets bigger, it's a boy, if it's unchanged, a girl. If it's a hard pregnancy, it's a girl, if it's a relatively easy one, a boy.
And that's even without getting into behaviors. Many of these are based upon traditional Chinese associations of masculinity, femininity, yang and yin. If the mother wants sour and salty food, it's a boy; and sweet is a girl. If her sexual desires swell, or if she has more energy, it's a boy. If she'd rather have a lie down, it's a girl.
Although doctors in China are strictly forbidden to reveal baby's gender during ultrasound checkups, curious parents have devised new superstitions based around the results of the ultrasound tests.
They claim that if the ultrasound graphic shows the baby facing out, it is a boy; but if facing inside, it's a girl. If the baby's heart beats about 140 per minute, it's a boy, if about 150 beats per minute, it's a girl. If an expectant mother's urinalysis is alkaline, it's a boy, but if acidic, a girl.
The list could go on and on and on.
Whether's it a drug or folk interpretations of traditional Chinese medicine or empirical practices, none of them are accurate.
But even so, these various weird gender-telling methods still exist in contemporary China, and some people do believe them.
But so long as the medical channel for gender-testing is closed tightly by law, these methods will always have their market in China.
The author is a media commentator. viewpoint@globaltimes.com.cn
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