Friday 7 February 2014

Antenatal training: 1 (Taiwan)


Some Chinese people believe in 胎教 (tāijiào / “womb education” = antenatal training).  This is a process of starting to mould the baby even before it is born — in looks, in temperament, in intellect.  The pregnant woman would listen to soothing music and look at beautiful pictures, including photos of beautiful people in the hope that the baby will develop good looks as a result.  (The other side of this 胎教 is to avoid going to places like the zoo, so that the baby won’t end up looking like a monkey, for example.  Blog to come on this.)

When I was working for Conoco Taiwan 1975–76, I was often invited to social events organised by the Western community in Taipei, mostly but not exclusively within the oil sector.  A German couple in this Western community had a son, Marko, who was five years old: blond, blue-eyed, really angelic, especially to the Chinese eye.  

One day, I went in to the office with photos of my day out at the beach with a Dutch/German group the previous weekend.  The girls in the office, all (bar one) unattached at the time without even a boyfriend, never mind a husband, took a great fancy to Marko, who was featured in a couple of close-up shots.  They asked for a copy of Marko’s photo.  “What for?” I asked, “You don’t even know the boy.”  They said, “For when we get pregnant, so that we can look at his photo and give birth to a beautiful baby.”  What, a blond blue-eyed Chinese baby??


(Taiwan, 1975)

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