Golden Child

When I was in Shanghai last week, I learned that this year is considered an "auspicious" one to bring a child into the world. Firstly, it's the Year of the Pig. As this March 1st article in the Washington Post explains:

Since time immemorial, prospective parents have been told, children born under the pig's patronage will benefit from the animal's image as fat, happy and prosperous. Now, couples who schemed to have their babies in these blessed times are hoping for good fortune.

"My family already has two pigs, including my father, and I want to add one more pig," said a pregnant 28-year-old Beijing secretary who identified herself only as Ms. Lian.

"I guess three pigs will also bring luck to us," she explained. "Also, I believe people who are born in the Year of the Pig are honest, because my father is such a person."

Fat, happy, honest, and rolling around in slop? Who doesn't want to be a Pig?

But it's more than just rich, swiney goodness that makes this year special.

Many couples were acting on a belief that 2007 is not only a Year of the Pig, which comes along once every 12 years, but a Golden Year of the Pig, which comes along once every 60 years and showers extra-powerful blessings on those born during its passage.

This is what I was told in Shanghai. Apparently a much higher number of women than usual in the office there have given birth or are pregnant because they desired to have a Golden Piggy. However, all that glitters is not always gold.

But Ye Chunsheng, a culture researcher at Guangzhou's Sun Yat-Sen University and deputy secretary general of the China Folklore Society, said that belief was mistaken.

"This year is not golden," he said. "It is earthen. The last Golden Year of the Pig was 1971, and the next one should be 2031, with 60 years as the full cycle."

Bummer. Here my wife and I thought we nailed it with our the birth of our second son in May. I guess he's just a regular down to earth Pig after all. Which still sounds pretty good:

Ye Zi, a 30-year-old businesswoman, said she became pregnant eight months ago without any particular desire to see her son-to-be born in the Year of the Pig, but now is suffering long waits and crowding at Beijing Obstetrics Hospital because of the trend.

"The problems of having a piglet baby are already apparent in the hospital, so I can expect that it will be quite competitive for my child to go to school, to look for jobs or even to find a girlfriend," she said.

"But I still think it's great to be born in this year," she added. "I hope this will bring him good luck. The elderly keep on saying that boys born in the Year of the Pig are lucky. I have been hearing this since childhood. It's just a Chinese belief. But I feel very lucky to have a piglet child this year, and if it's the golden pig, so much the better."

Besides the role of "golden child" already seems to be taken by our eldest, at least in appearance. He turned two on Monday, which is a bit hard to believe. It seems like it was only yesterday that we welcomed the little Rooster to our nest.