In Asia, everyone wants a dragon child. This means – born in the year of the Dragon, because this sign of the Chinese Zodiac is said to determine the most successful life. With the Lunar Dragon New Year beginning in February, Asia is expecting a baby boom in the coming months.
From China and Taiwan to Japan and South Korea, governments are struggling to persuade women to have more children as low birth rates become an existential problem.
It is predicted that by 2050 China will run out of the hands it needs for its manufacturing-oriented economy – the country will lose as many as 200 million people. workers.
Efforts fail as China’s birthrate continues to decline. But an increase is expected in 2024, as many people sincerely believe in Chinese astrology, which is almost two millennia old. She claims that the dragon is the most auspicious animal of the Zodiac.
Waves of newborns await
The dragon is the only mythical creature of the 12 Chinese Zodiac signs, so it is considered divine and powerful. Many believe that children who see the world in the Year of the Dragon will be accompanied by success and happiness throughout their lives.
Each animal in this system is assigned certain characteristics, and some years are less popular. For example, Tiger, because they are too fierce. Goats because they are too scared. Snakes because they are manipulative and cunning.
Baby booms also happen in the Golden Pig year, but you have to wait decades for them. The last time they came was in 2007.
Golden pig children are said to enjoy comfort and wealth throughout their lives.
Still, nothing beats the Year of the Dragon. They are associated with intelligence, confidence and ambition. In order to have a child on time, couples opt for in vitro fertilization or plan caesarean sections. Sometimes they even ask doctors to postpone childbirth.
In schools, the number of students increases in the classes with the most dragon children. Therefore, additional classes are often required.
It is believed that in this year of the Dragon, a million more people than usual should decide to have offspring.
Not lucky at all because of the sign
This may sound like superstition to Westerners, but in Asia, even heads of state are speaking out on this issue.
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has officially urged citizens to add a “little dragon” to their families.
This superstition is not entirely unfounded. Based on 2019 in a study using Chinese data, those born in the Year of the Dragon were more likely to score higher in university entrance exams and to obtain higher education. The girls studied in the study were taller.
However, the findings suggest that the causes have nothing to do with the stars.
The decisive factor is the greater investment of parents in their children in terms of time and money.
“People think dragons are special and everyone wants to have special children. When they get them, they invest in them in that year and expect more from them. As a result, they are more successful, and the cycle repeats itself, said Naci Mocan, an economics professor at Louisiana State University and one of the study’s authors. “That’s why it goes on for centuries and generations.”
Advises when to get pregnant
In China, where the Lunar New Year is the most important holiday of the year, the authorities hope that this ancient belief will lead to the necessary increase in the birth rate.
Hospitals across China have sent out timetables and advice telling couples when to get pregnant to have a dragon baby.
“Hurry up and use these few months to scientifically prepare for the baby,” read one message from Huantai Maternity and Children’s Health Care Hospital in Shandong Province.
Zhai Zhenwu, an adviser to the National Health and Family Planning Commission, told China’s Times Finance that there is hope for a higher birth rate this year because of the very clear astrological wishes of Chinese citizens.
The world’s second-largest economy is on the brink of a population crisis caused by decades of limiting family sizes.
Although China has eased controls to allow all married couples to have three children in 2021 and offered subsidies and incentives, younger generations are shying away from marriage and children.
in 2023 the birth rate fell for the seventh year in a row – to 9.02 million. This number is about half of 2017. It is predicted that at this rate in China from 1.4 billion the population in 2100 will remain just over half a billion.
The pandemic has had an impact
In 2023, 4.5 percent occurred in China. more marriages than a year ago, as if everyone was waiting for the year of the Dragon to have a child.
Another interesting fact was that last year more Chinese than usual went to fertility centers. According to Sherry Yang, who helps Chinese women go to fertility centers in Kazakhstan, one couple wanted to have three dragons. They went through IVF and are expecting triplets in August.
But Sherry Yang attributed much of the demand to the pandemic, which has forced many people to put their lives on hold.
“It was too much trouble to wait for the children for three years because of the health codes and regulations,” said Sherry Yang, referring to China’s strict “Zero COVID-19” restrictions, which have monitored residents’ health and whereabouts through their phones.
More work for the clairvoyant
Hopes for a baby boom in the Year of the Dragon are similar in other Asian countries.
Teresa Tan has a company that cares for mothers and children immediately after birth. Until September, its schedule in Singapore and Malaysia is 40% full. more than last year: “The impact is definitely felt.”
Cathy Tsai, who works at Infacix, a postpartum care center in Taiwan’s capital Taipei, said a few months ago, clients started booking rooms as early as seven or eight weeks pregnant. Although usually women take their time and reach about 12 weeks of pregnancy.
Hong Kong’s famous psychic Mak Ling-ling said she had also received more inquiries about childbirth this year, including from celebrities she did not want to name.
“Everyone is in a bit of a rush to have a baby dragon,” said the clairvoyant. “The zodiac still has a big influence on Chinese birth rates, but the current problem is the poor economic situation.”
In fact, the economy determines birth more than the Zodiac.
A dramatic baby boom cannot be expected unless China’s slowing economy recovers and serious changes take place in the country.
Scholars teach different opinions
“Research shows that birth according to the Zodiac calendar influences people’s decisions about when to have a child, but not the number of offspring. Therefore, it cannot solve the problem of low birth rates,” said Poh Lin Tan, a researcher at Singapore’s National Lee Kuan Yew University.
Huang Wenzheng, a Beijing-based demographer, said China’s politicians are acting unambitious: “There are no big incentives in the country at the national level. Local authorities provide subsidies, but these are small amounts of money that do not provide tangible benefits.”
However, old beliefs about astrology are hard to shake off. Even University of Memphis economist Yu Han, who worked on the 2019 of a study linking parents’ expectations and children’s achievements, dragons would like to have a child this year.
Yu Han is a bit biased as he himself was born in the Year of the Dragon and remembers feeling a bit special growing up: “I just think it’s cool to have a dragon child, especially if the father is also a dragon.”
Based on information from the Washington Post.
