Throughout the history of China, the Chinese prefer baby boy. The reason is simple - males are stronger than females on average, at least physically!
China is an agricultural country traditionally. In ancient Chinese society, more boys meant they could help their families to do more heavy duties in farm. As a result, they could make more money. Girls, on the other hand, should stay at home until they reached sixteen or seventeen, during which time they were little more than an expense. They were then taken to their husbands' home and their own families had no further control their life or conduct. This through many years and centuries has generated in the popular mind a feeling that it is "bad business raising girls for other people,"
The ancient Chinese Gender Chart is used to
predict and select the sex of baby. According to legend, the chart was invented at the beginning of the
Qing dynasty (1644~1912), with the help of
I Ching which includes the Yin and Yang
1, the Five Elements
2 and the Eight Trigrams
3. The fact that the chart was found at the tomb of an emperor in last century did not really surprise historians, as gender selection for sons were extremely important for the ancient Chinese emperors.
The original copy is now in the Institute of Science in Beijing, and because of its high accuracy, it is getting more attention from both western and eastern world.
Notes:
