Various folk traditions have been circulating in China since ancient times. Until now, in many families, there is still a preference for the choice of the child’s Chinese zodiac sign. Many parents have heard such saying: Ox is not desirable, stubborn and exhausting; Tiger is too aggressive… The pig is good, and will be rich and lucky all life!
Zodiac preferences seem to be increasingly popular in contemporary society. Parents become more concerned with their child’s living quality and wish to have an auspicious Baby in an Auspicious Year. Many parents plan for “lucky” zodiac signs and avoid “unlucky” ones. Except for the birth year, even the due month needs to be calculated and planned, because this is directly related to the age of children who attend school!
Fewer babies are born in the year of the goat
According to data released by the Chinese Bureau of Statistics on February 29, 2016, the number of births in China in 2015 (the Year of the Goat) was 16.55 million, a decrease of 320,000 compared with 2014 (the Year of the Horse). In 2016 (the Year of the Monkey), there were 17.86 million births, an increase of 1.31 million over the Year of the Goat.
From the data of these three years, regardless of the number of births or the birth rate, a decrease was formed in 2015 (Year of the Goat). The corresponding zodiac sign in 2018 is the dog. According to figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics, the number of births in 2018 decreased by 2 million compared with 2017. This is mainly due to the influence of zodiac preferences. Some parents think the zodiac sign of a goat is unlucky and even postpone pregnancy.
Baby boom in some zodiac years
According to the birth rate data from the China Bureau of Statistics since 2000, we can see that in 2005 (Rooster Year), 2007 (Pig Year), 2008 (Rat Year), 2011 (Rabbit Year), 2012 (Dragon Year), 2014 (Horse Year) and the birth rate in 2016 rose from the previous year. Except for 2016, which was affected by the country’s open two-child policy, the first and second highest growth rates were 0.29% in 2014 and 0.17% in 2012.
In other words, there are relatively more babies born in the year of the horse and the year of the dragon, as well as in the year of the pig, the rabbit and the rat. Dragon and pig are considered to be the most popular zodiac sign among the whole lot.
Dragon is regarded as the luckiest zodiac sign in China and children born in the dragon year are considered to have better fortunes and perform better in learning. Most parents have a strong dragon zodiac preference.
Different Zodiac Preferences
In some areas of northern China, there is a saying that the goat is not auspicious (especially for women), try to avoid marrying people born in the year of the goat and give birth in the year of the goat; while some areas in the south regard it as bad luck for women born in the year of the tiger.
Different zodiac signs may represent different meanings for boys and girls. The Chinese prefer to have boys in the year of the dragon, but not in the year of the tiger.
People in Taiwan generally regard the Year of the Tiger as an “inauspicious year”, and people born in the Year of the Tiger might have a rough fate, so many parents do not want to have children during the Year of the Tiger.
Because tigers are ferocious by nature and can hurt people, people born in the year of the tiger also give people the impression of being “ferocious, assertive, and unable to communicate with others.
Problems zodiac preference caused
Zodiac preference might seem superstitious to those outside the Asian culture, but Chinese zodiac culture has some demographic effects.
Baby boom in some zodiac years might cause some problems for kids, such as difficulty in getting into kindergartens, schools or colleges. This will also put a lot of pressure on hospitals and the labour market as more people means more competition. Competition is more intense for kids born in these years.