Photographs of Britain’s Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, leaving hospital just hours after giving birth to a girl on Saturday, sparked debate online in China about “yuezi”, the 30 day postpartum rest period.
According to tradition, following labor, many women are house bound, deprived of cold food and drinks, and even forgo hot showers for a whole month in a bid to regain physical and mental equilibrium.
Chinese women are told if they do not undergo yuezi they will suffer from health problems in later life.
Therefore, it comes as no surprise that Chinese netizens were taken aback by Kate’s public appearance for the cameras, posing babe-in-arms – and in high-heels nonetheless – just ten hours after her delivery.
This very public display of such a high-profile woman, just mere hours after labor, resulted in people reflecting on the place yuezi has in modern society.
One user on China’s twitter-like microblog weibo.com, “maoyanzhu”, said that Kate’s doctor must have approved her public appearance, which showed it was perfectly ok not to practice “yuezi”.
Another user, “rongxiangxiang”, said: “I hated [yuezi], because I was confined to bed, denied TV, my cellphone and couldn’t even brush my teeth.”
Others argued that the tradition was not only an important part of Chinese culture but highlighted the physical differences between Chinese and Caucasians.
Another weibo user, “Mengmengda”, said as the tradition was passed on from generation to generation, it must make sense, adding that the eastern mindset of respecting traditions and the older generation had meant that the tradition had not been forgotten.
Regardless of the arguments, it is hard not to agree, on some level, with the obvious benefit of a period of postpartum rest to new mothers. Xinhua
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