Chinese people value their family very much because they regard it as a means to keep the family blood stream continuously running. And the running family blood stream maintains the life of the whole nation. That is why children production and breeding in China becomes a focus of all members of families. It is even accepted by them as an essential moral duty. There is a Chinese saying that of all who lack filial piety，the worst is who has no children

中国人非常重视家庭，因为他们认为家庭是使家族血脉延续的方式，而只有血脉的延续才能保证整个民族的生命力。因此，在中国，所有家庭成员都非常重视孩子的生养，他们甚至认为这是一种道德上的责任。中国有句谚语:“不孝有三，无后为大”，很能说明问题。

The fad¹ that Chinese people pay great attention to children production and breeding can be supported by many customary practices. Many traditional customs about production of children are aN based on the idea of children protection.

中国人对生养孩子的重视体现在许多传统习俗上。这些习俗都是以保护孩子为出发点的。

Pregnancy²

怀孕

When a wife is found to be pregnant, people will say she“has happiness"and all her family members will feel overjoyed over it. Throughout the whole period of pregnancy，both she and the fetus³ are well attended，so that the fetus is not hurt in any way and the new generation is born both physically⁴ and mentally healthy. To keep the fetus in a good condition，the would-be mother is offered sufficient nutritious⁵ foods and some traditional Chinese medicines believed to be helpful to the fetus.

如果发现一位妻子怀孕了，人们会说她“有喜了”。全家人都会因此感到高兴。怀孕期间，孕妇和胎儿都会得到悉心照料，以免胎儿受到任何的伤害，影响下一代的身心健康。为了保证胎儿发育良好，通常都会给未来的母亲提供充足的富含营养的食品和一些他们认为会对胎儿发育有益的中草药。

After Birth

出生后

When a Chinese baby is born，he/she is already considered to be one year old:age is calculated from the date of conception not the date of birth.

一出生，中国人就会认为他/她已经一岁了。年龄是从怀孕的日子，而不是出生的日子开始算的。

Praise should never be given to or applied⁶ to a new-born Chinese baby as this is believed to invite the attention of demons⁷ and ghosts:the baby，instead，should be referred to with unfavourable terms and words!

初生的中国婴儿是不能夸的，因为人们认为这样可能会引起恶魔或鬼的注意。要用不太好的词语来称呼婴儿。

A concave navel is considered a sign of a prosperous life for the baby, while an extruding⁹ one is less auspicious¹⁰. If a baby has more than one hair crown it is thought he/she will be mischievous¹¹ and disobedient, but if he/she has wide and that it becomes nicely rounded.

婴儿肚脐下陷是将来能过上富足生活的标志，肚脐突出就不那么吉利了。婴儿如果有不止一个发冠，人们会认为他/她将来会比较淘气，不听话;如果婴儿的耳朵又大又厚，将来会比较有福气。婴儿的头要经常抚摸，这样头型才能长得比较圆。

Babies who continuously cry are thought to have been disturbed by evil spirits and to ward¹² these off, a single pomelo leaf is placed beneath his/her mattress¹³.

要是婴儿不停的哭，那说明有邪物来惊扰他/她，可以在婴儿的睡垫下面放上一个袖树的叶子来驱邪。

Care is also taken to ensure that the baby's spirit does not leave his/her body permanently:a baby's face should not be powdered with white talcum powder when he/she is sleeping as his/her wandering spirit will not recognise his/her face and not be reunited with the body. When a little older, the baby may be fitted with a black bracelet，talisman or image of the Buddha¹⁴ which iS thought io ensure his/her well being.

还应该小心，防范婴儿的灵魂永久离体。婴儿睡觉时，脸上不能擦爽身粉，否则他/她的灵魂在外面游荡时，会认不出自己的脸，不能附体。婴儿大一点后，可能会给他/她戴上黑色的手镯、护符或佛像，人们认为这些东西可以保佑婴儿。

Confinement¹⁵

坐月子

After birth，the mother is expected to observe a 40-day period of confinement, which is called "zuoyuezi"，and to stay in bed for a month in order to recover from the fatigue¹⁶. During this period，she is not allowed to eat food considered“cold" or have cold baths:keeping warm，by the wearing of thick clothes for example,is considered of paramount¹⁷ importance. If it can be afforded，a special helper-responsible for both mother and child- is hired to tend to the new mother for at least two weeks.

婴儿出生以后，婴儿的母亲要坐40天的月子，为了从分娩的劳累中恢复过来，她一个月不能下床。在此期间，她不能吃寒性的食物，也不能洗冷水澡。穿着厚衣服来保暖被认为是最重要的。如果条件允许，可以雇个保姆来照顾婴儿的母亲和婴儿，时间至少是半个月。

Month-Old Celebration

满月

The first important event for the newly born baby is the one-month celebration.In Buddhist¹⁸ or Taoist families，on the morning of the baby's 30th day，sacrifices are offered to the gods so that the gods will protect the baby in his subsequent life. Ancestors are also virtually informed of the arrival of the new member in the family.According to the customs，relatives and friends receive gifts from the child's parents. Types of gifts vary from place to place，but eggs dyed red are usually a must both in town and the countryside. Red eggs are chosen as gifts probably because they are the symbol of changing process of life and their round shape is the symbol of harmonious¹⁹ and happy life. They are made red because red color is a sign of happiness in Chinese culture. Besides eggs，food like cakes，chicken and hams are often used as gifts. As people do in the Spring Festival，gifts given are always in even number

孩子出生后第一件重要的事就是庆祝孩子满月。信奉佛教或道教的家庭会在孩子出生后的第三十个早晨给神佛上供，祈求神佛保佑孩子，同时也告知祖先:家里又添了口人。根据传统，亲戚和朋友会收到孩子父母送的礼物。不同的地方礼物不尽相同，然而不管在农村还是在城市，红壳蛋是必备的。这是因为，红壳蛋是生活过程改变的象征，圆形则象征着和谐幸福的生活。蛋壳被染成红色，因为红色在中国文化中代表幸福。除了鸡蛋，孩子的父母还会送蛋糕，鸡肉火腿等礼物。跟春节礼物一样，满月礼物也必须是双数的。

During the celebration，relatives and friends of the family will also return some presents. The presents indude those which the child may use，like foods，daily materials，gold or silver wares²⁰. But the commonest are some money wrapped in a piece of red paper. Grandparents usually give their grandchild a gold or silver ware²¹ to show their deep love for the child. In the evening，the child's parents give a grand teast at home or in a restaurant to the guests at the celebration.

在庆祝满月期间，亲朋好友也会回礼。回礼可以是孩子能吃能用的东西，也可以是金银器物。但是最常见的礼物还是红包。孩子的爷爷奶奶通常会给自己的孙子或孙女一件金或银的东西来表达他们对孩子的疼爱。当天晚上，孩子的父母会在家或饭店设宴招待客人。

The day after the feast, the baby's hair is shaved off; the baby's hair is regarded as“interim" hair and its removal facilitates the growth of“permanent" hair.

满月第二天，孩子要理“满月头”，剃掉被认为是“过渡性”的胎毛。人们认为这样会有助于真正的头发长出来。

Naming a child

给孩子起名

In Chinese culture, a person's name has an important role to play in determining his/ her destiny. Because of this，Chinese parents will often spend a long time choosing their child's name and all possible factors must be taken into account when they are naming their children.A typical Chinese name has three characters, in principle these are the family name，a name indicating the child's generation and a personal name .though often the second"principle" is not followed. The generation indicating characters in the names are usually given by the forefathers，who chose them from a line of a poem or found their own and put them in the genealogy²² for their descendents to use.For this reason，it is possible to know the relationships between the family relatives by just looking at their names.

中国文化认为，名字非常重要，可能会决定一个人的命运。因此，父母在给自己的孩子起名时常常要花很长时间，必须要考虑到所有可能的因素。

中国人的名字原则上讲通常有三个字:姓，表示辈分的字和自己的名。然而，表示辈分的字常常会不取。姓名里表示辈分的字通常都是祖辈们的，他们把要用的字从诗句里选出来，放在族谱中供子孙们使用。因此，只看一个人的名字，就可以知道家族里亲戚之间的关系。

Naming a child must take into consideration five principles:the name must have a favourable⁸ meaning(particularly favoured are meanings reflecting wealth or well-being²³ ) and names with negative possibilities should be avoided，the name must sound pleasant when spoken，the name must reflect favourable mathematical calculations，it must be harmonious with regard to yin and yang，and it must possess one of the five elements of metal，wood，water，fire，and earth.It is a common practice to find the newborn baby's Eight Charocters(in four pairs，indicating the year, month，day and hour of a person's birth，each pair consisting of one Heavenly Stem and one Earthly Branch，formerly used in fortune-telling ) and the element.。the Eight Characters. It.traditionally believed in China that the world is made up of five principal elements; metal, wood，water, fire, and earth. A person's name is to include an element that he lacks in his Eight Characters. If he lacks water， for example，then his name is supposed to contain a word like river, lake，tide，sea，stream，rain，or any word associated with water. If he lacks metal，then he is to be given a word like gold，silver, iron，or steel.

给孩子起名要考虑五个原则:名字的意思要好(跟“财富”或“福气”有关的意思最好)，要避免不太好的可能性;名字念起来必须要好听;笔画上必须要好;必须符合阴阳的理论;必须具备金木水火土中一个要素。起名时，往往会找出孩子的生辰八字(分为四组，分别表示一个出生的年、月、日、时;每组包括一天干一地支，过去用于算命)，算出八字中缺金木水火土五要素中的哪一种。算出缺哪种后，起的名字里要包含那一要素。比如说，如果缺水，那起的名字里就要包括河、湖、潮、海、雨或者其他跟水有关系的字眼。如果缺金，给他起个带金、银、铁或钢的名字。

Some people even believe that the number of strokes of a name has a lot to do with the owner's fate. So when they name a child，the number of strokes of the name is taken into account. When written，each Chinese name has a certain number of strokes，and the number of brush strokes of each character corresponds to a certain element. A two-stroke character is associated with wood，three and four strokes fire, five and six strokes earth and nine and ten strokes water. The total number of strokes in a name can determine a person's fortune:for example twelve strokes bespeaks²⁴ a life of illness and failure，while 81 strokes presages²⁵ prosperity and a happy future.

有人甚至认为，名字的笔画也跟命运有很大关系。所以给孩子起名时，还要考虑名字的笔画。每个人的名字写起来时笔画都是一定的，每个汉字的笔画对应金木水火土中的一个元素。两画的字对应水，三画四画对应火，五画六画对应土，九画十画对应水。名字的总笔画数可以决定一个人的命运。例如，十二画预示着一个人会多灾多病，生活失败，而八十一画则表明这个人生活富足，未来幸福。

Some parents prefer to use a character from an eminent²⁶ person's name, hoping that their child inherits that person's nobility and greatness. Characters with

noble and encouraging connotations are also among the first choices. Some parents inject their own wishes into their children's names. When they want to have aboy，they may name their girl Zhaodi meaning "expecting a brother".

有些父母喜欢用伟人名字中的字给自己的孩子起名，他们希望自己的孩子能继承那个人的高贵和伟大。有好的意思的字也在首选之列。还有一些父母通过孩子的名字表达他们的愿望。比如如果他们想要个男孩，就可能给自己女儿起名为“招弟”。

One-Hundred-Day Celebration

百天

It is another important occasion to mark when the child is one hundred days old. In ancient times there used to be a grand ceremony, which was called “baisui"，Or“one hundred years old".By this name，the Chinese are in fad expressing their wish that their beloved child will enjoy a life of longevity²⁷. This celebration is not so common now, so we will not go to details.

孩子一百天的时候也要庆祝。在古代，会举行一个叫“百岁”的盛大仪式。通过这个名字可以看出，中国人事实上在表明:他们希望自己心爱的孩子能长命百岁。如今庆祝百天已经不太常见了，所以此处不再赘述。

One-Year-Old Birthday

周岁生日

When the child is one year old，there is an interesting custom called“zhua-zhou".Zhuazhou is regarded as one of the most important customs on a child's first birthday.

孩子一岁时有个非常有趣的风俗叫“抓周”。抓周被认为是孩子周岁生日最重要的组成部分之一。

The earliest written record of this custom can be traced back to the Song Dynasty ( 960一1279).In the late Qing Dynasty(1644一1911)，this custom prevailedin Beijing. Zhuazhou is not an occasion for grand feasts and elaborate gifts:thehosts do not even send out invitations. The idea is that relatives will show up spon taneously to celebrate the child's first birthday. Gifts from relatives on this day are usually not costly，and do not include such items as gold or silver jewellery. Instead，dimsum or toys are presented to the child. Seniors meeting the child for the first time usually offer a coin to be fastened around the child's neck with thread.This custom is not only applicable to birthdays，but many other occasions，as well.

关于“抓周”的最早的记载可以追溯到宋朝(960一1279 )。清朝(1644一1911)后期，在北京地区尤其流行。抓周时并不需要举行盛大的宴会，不需要精美的礼品，甚至不需要请帖。亲戚们会自发地出席，来庆祝孩子的周岁生日。虽然也会给孩子礼物，但往往不会很贵，不会有金银首饰，通常都是零花钱或玩具。第一次见到孩子的长辈会把一个硬币用线系到孩子的颈上。当然这一风俗不仅适用于生日，也适用于其他场合。

The zhuazhou ceremony usually takes place before the longevity noodle at lunchtime. A wealthy family will install a table on the bed(or“kang”-a heated brick bed used in Northern China ) where stamps，dassic Confucian，Buddhist and Taoist books，a Chinese brush pen，ink, paper, an ink stone，abacus²⁸，coins, an accounting²⁹ book, jewellery，flowers，rouge，food and toys are placed. If the baby is female, the following items are added:a scoop，scissors，ruler， thread，etc.The practice, however, is much more simplified in a common family. Usually a bronze tray instead of a table is placed on the“kang" and a book from old-style private schools，like the Three-Character Primer, is put on top. Other things include a Chinese brush pen，abacus and a cake. Scissors，and a ruler are added for a girl.

抓周仪式通常会在午饭吃长寿面之前举行。富庶的家庭会在床或炕上摆个桌子，放上印、经典儒佛道家典籍、笔墨纸砚、算盘、硬币、账本、珠宝、花、粉、食物和玩具。如果是女孩，除了这些再加上勺子、剪子、尺子、线等物。平常人家的抓周仪式要简单多了。通常会在炕上放上一个铜盘，而不是桌子，在盘上放本私塾用书，比如《三字经》。再放上毛笔、算盘和蛋糕。如果是女孩，就加上剪刀和尺子。

The parents then seat the baby in front of the table or the tray. Without help or guidance from anyone，the baby is then free to choose anything in front of them. The selected items he or she chooses are used to foretell³⁰ the child's interests, carear and indinafion in the future.

父母把自己的孩子放到桌子或盘子前面。不给任何帮助和指导，让孩子自由地选择前面的东西。孩子选的东西会预言孩子的兴趣、事业和未来的倾向。

Selecting the stamp means the child will be an officer in the future; if he or she chooses the stationery³¹ first，the baby will be industrious³² and endowed with great literary talents; the abacus suggests a penchant³³ for statistics and financing. A girl baby who first grabs a sewing item or cooking utensil³⁴ will be a good housewife. On the other hand，when the child picks a cake or a toy，he or she will know how to enjoy the pleasures in life. In the great Chinese literary classis, Hong Lou Meng，or the Dreary³⁵ of the Red Mansion，Jia Baoyu，the hero，actually grabbed powder and other girls' stuff at the ceremony when he was a child. As a result, he likes mingling³⁶ with girls very much. It is said that Qian Zhongshu，a very famous scholar in China，took a book at the ceremony. His father gladly named him Zhongshu，which literally³⁷ means“book lover"，and he proved his penchant for studies later in his life.

选了官印，孩子将来会做官;选了文具，孩子会勤奋学习，有很高的文学天赋;选了算盘，说明孩子将来会很喜欢统计和金融。选了缝纫或烹饪用品的女孩将来会成为很好的家庭主妇。反之，如果孩子选了蛋糕或者玩具，将来就会享受生活的乐趣。在中国古典名著《红楼梦》里，贾宝玉在抓周时抓了脂粉和其他一些女孩的东西，他后来非常喜欢在女孩堆里厮混。据说中国著名学者钱钟书在一岁抓周的仪式上抓了本书。他的父亲因此非常开心，给他取名为“钟书”。后来，他的成就也证明了这一点。

The custom of Zhuazhou influences how the parents，grandparents and other relatives will encourage the child，and how they will conduct enlightenment education. Therefore，even though some parents may not be superstitious，they will still carry out the custom. This is also why the custom has been passed on through so many generations and is still practiced to this day.

抓周的习俗会影响家长和亲友将来怎样鼓励孩子，怎样对孩子进行启蒙教育。所以，虽然有些父母并不迷信，他们也会举行抓周仪式。这就是这一习俗历经数代仍然延续不息的原因了。