Traditional Childbearing Concepts

By XIN XIN

    MAHJONG is definitely among the most popular pastimes of Chinese people. According to modern Chinese scholar Hu Shi, the game was invented by Anhui merchants. Linked to this is the province's traditional childbearing culture, which is the best preserved in China.

    Mahjong was invented during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), out of very strong local childbearing worship in Anhui. Of the three principal tiles in mahjong, the stick and circle tiles respectively suggest the male and female private parts, and their pronunciations in Chinese are homophones. The character tile wan (meaning 10,000) in mahjong suggests a couple "having many sons and blessings."

    Traditional bridal chambers have symbolic objects reflecting the same wish: dates, peanuts, longans and chestnuts. Put together, they mean "having sons early." Today, this traditional childbearing concept is still evident in some parts of China, but in the old days it was dominant across the whole nation.

    To Chinese people, childbearing has always been important. Back in the 21st century BC, China had the world's first population statistics: 13 million people in total. Most of the philosophers of the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States periods (770-221 BC), during which "a hundred thoughts thrived," aired their wish to see the population increase. In short, traditional concepts encouraged the belief that "more sons equals more blessings."

An Obligation to Parents and Ancestors

    Unlike the West where traditional concepts of sex and childbearing are closely related to religion, Chinese notions are associated with family and clan. In the old days, every family had a shrine and each clan had an exclusive temple to memorialize their ancestors. Ancestors were "gods" to their descendents, and worked continuously to bless later generations. Keeping the bloodline going was the number one task of offspring, and a duty owed to their ancestors. Marriage meant "two families joining hands to fulfill the obligation by keeping the bloodline continuous to no end." If a woman failed to give birth to a child before she was 50, the age traditionally viewed as the end of childbearing, the husband had the right of divorce.

    Behind the childbearing concept was filial duty, the root, obligation and motivation of childbearing. Filial obligation was at the center of the family code, the ultimate virtue, and the number one duty for each person. Among the three most serious filial failures were failure to bring honor to one's parents, failure to provide for one's parents when they get old, and failure to have offspring and continue the family line. The last was the most unforgivable. Having children, apart from a practical need to support elderly parents, had far-reaching significance to ancestors.

    Under traditional childbearing concepts, early marriage and early childbearing were much valued. According to an ancient book titled The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine or Huangdi Neijing, men were ready to partake in childbearing at 16, and women at 14. For the government, the age was 20 for men and 15 for women. In order to encourage people to marry during the best childbearing years, governments constructed relevant laws and policies. One such effort was made during the sixth or seventh century BC by a statesman called Guan Zhong. He called on the government to make match for, and take care of, widows and widowers. Another attempt was made in the fifth century BC in the State of Yue, by the ruler Gou Jian. He threatened to punish any parent with a bachelor son beyond 20 years old and an unmarried daughter beyond 17. Emperor Huidi of the Han Dynasty made a similar law during the second century BC, which stipulated that any family with an unmarried daughter over 30 was to be taxed at a rate five times higher than other families.

    In agricultural civilization, sons inherited family wealth and in return, they provided labor and enabled the family bloodline to continue. Each family wished to have as many sons as possible. Sons meant honor for mothers too, because after giving birth to a son, a mother's status was much higher than those who only had daughters. Traditionally, a woman lived with her husband's family after getting married, and if her husband died, with her sons. To encourage filial duty, governments gave lenient punishment to a criminal if he had a mother over 80 years old to support.

    Chinese traditional concepts about sex were simple. Confucius (551-479 BC) said, "Sex is the most natural need of people." A similar belief was expounded by another philosopher, Confucius' contemporary, Mencius: "Food and sex are part of human nature." To him, if all women and men married, society gained peace and harmony. A Western Han Dynasty book about behavioral codes even prescribed an ideal frequency for having sex: once every five days if the wife was under 50. Traditional concepts emphasized a family's blood purity: having sex outside marriage was criminal. This belief governed all sex activity in Chinese families.

Population Growth: Mark of a Nation's Prosperity

    Today's infant survival rates and life spans differ greatly from ancient times, when pestilence, wars and famines could leave a population stagnant, or even in decline. Increasing the population was essential for a nation's survival. In the fifth century, politician Zhou Lang held that increasing the population was an issue of social stability. To him, "A smaller territory is nothing to worry about, but less childbearing is." If the population increased, said Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government, or Zizhi Tongjian, the state would have more revenue and the nation would be stronger. Governments of later dynasties all took this view and encouraged childbearing and population increases. The above-mentioned Yue ruler Gou Jian even prescribed in great detail the rewards for childbirth: a baby boy received two pots of liquor and a dog; a baby girl, two pots of liquor plus a hog; all the rearing expenses for twins would be covered by the government; and triplets earned the parent's a state-provided wet nurse. Free medical care was also provided for women during birth. Orphans were placed under the care of the government. Under these measures, the State of Yue's population increased rapidly, and in 20 years the nation defeated its old foe, the State of Wu.

    Each time a new dynasty was founded, it encouraged childbearing through preferential policies. Due to years of war, when the Han Dynasty was founded the country's population was just 14 million. The first Han emperor encouraged childbearing through two years exemption from corvee for each baby boy. Similar encouragement was given by the early Tang Dynasty (618-907), which made population growth a yardstick for local official positions. The Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) did the same.

    With such governmental encouragements, population increases were assured. Two hundred years after the Western Han Dynasty was founded, the population jumped to 59 million. The Ming and Qing dynasties saw the fastest population growth in ancient China, which was credited both to policies encouraging childrearing and the introduction of new crops such as corn and sweet potatoes. A new policy that rolled the former poll tax into land tax also played a part, as it meant tax bills no longer increased with the size of the family. In 1741, the number of people registered nationwide reached 143 million. Within 50 years it had reached 300 million. By 1834, with the capitalist economy making inroads, the population of China hit 400 million.

    However, the traditional childbearing concept also advocates rational population growth. As Confucius said thousands of years ago, increases in population should match the amount of arable land. Otherwise, increases will be detrimental to agriculture. To him, 50,000 families in an area of 2,500 square kilometers was manageable. Another philosopher, Han Fei (280-233 BC), thought likewise. To him, a drastic population increase led to social disturbances. "When the number of people is more than supplies can sustain," he argued, "wars happen." Calls for birth control were heard during the Ming and Qing dynasties, due to rapid population growth. Feng Menglong (1574-1646), a literary man of the Ming Dynasty, believed one boy and one girl for each family was ideal, while more than two was disastrous.

    The continuity of the Chinese nation owes much to the traditional childbearing concept. During the 19th century, the Chinese population was 40 percent of the world's total. To Yi Fuxian, a contemporary scholar, the continuity of Chinese civilization over 5,000 years is creditable to the traditional Chinese childbearing concept, as well as to China's large population.