Lunar New Year

As in all patriarchal societies, the Chinese throughout history have always preferred the birth of a baby boy to a girl. China has traditionally been an agricultural society, hence, in the past, having more boys meant that there would be more hands to work on the fields, which, of course brought in more money. Whereas the girls just stayed at home until they reached marriageable age – sixteen or seventeen – during which time they were considered to be just an expense on the family. In addition, according to Chinese custom, it was only boys that could inherit the ancestral property, and carry on the family business or farm. Hence, it is hardly surprising that the ancient Chinese devised a method of being able to predict the gender of the unborn child.

The Chinese Gender Predictor Chart, also known as the Chinese Lunar Calendar or The Chinese Birth Chart, is therefore considered one of the oldest methods of predicting the sex of a child before its birth. This 7,000-year-old chart, which is said to have been devised by an ancient Chinese scientist, was apparently discovered buried in a tomb near Beijing about 700 years back. At present, the original chart is in the Institute of Science in Beijing.

In recent times, the Chinese Gender Chart has also come into increasing use by the Chinese because of government policies that require couples to limit reproduction to a single child.