A BBC Radio 4 journalist approached me one day about the Chinese perspective on pregnancy and childbirth — all the rituals and customs that go with them: what to do / not do / eat / not eat.
When I got to the bit about 胎教 (tāijiào / “womb education” = antenatal training) including things to avoid, like not visiting the zoo, in case one’s baby ends up being born looking like a monkey, she whooped with laughter and said, “When my mother was pregnant with my brother, she went to the zoo* in Hong Kong, and he does look a bit like a monkey. Don’t tell my brother that! He’s very sensitive about it.”
(*or maybe Haw Par Villa, a kind of theme park featuring Chinese legendary characters, gods and spirits. The Monkey King is a famous Chinese character from the story The Journey to the West 西游记 xīyóu jì / "west wander-around record", about seventh century monk 玄奘 Xuánzàng (/ Tripitaka) who spent 17 years travelling overland to India to collect some Buddhist scriptures, so maybe the monkey-image impact on the unborn baby could've come from a visit to Haw Par Villas. There's a Haw Par Villa in Singapore, too.)
(London, 200?)
Antenatal training: 1
