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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