Baby Shower Favors, and What Not To Take to the Hospital

Filed in archive Did you know , News on January 30, 2010

© joshDubya


To say Chinese culture has its eccentricities would be an understatement. Many of the most basic thought processes are different from what most Western visitors are accustomed to. Understanding things like the importance of relationship in Chinese culture (we tend to be far more independent) or the role of authority simply baffles many visitors from Europe and the US.

The details of life often hold hidden meanings. At least those meanings are hidden from Western visitors (they're obvious to locals). One of my favorite examples is a hapless friend of my who went to visit a couple he knew at the hospital. The Chinese woman had just given birth to a son. The American brought her flowers. This upset her because to the Chinese way of thinking, flowers at a hosptial are for sick people and mother's who've just delivered a baby are not "sick" by any Chinese definition. So it was a bad omen. Then she discovered the little plastic stork in the bouquet. The woman freaked and had to be sedated. The stork looks like a heron - which represents death in Chinese imagery.

The guy would have done better with a few baby shower favors. But how was he to know...?