Legend has it, that some 700 years ago, relics found in a tomb near Beijing, led to the development of the Chinese Fertility Calendar.
Perhaps based on the parent’s yearning to know if they are to have a boy or a girl, and due to the inordinate significance placed by so many on the begetting of a male heir, people have always tried formulate ways to find out the sex of the baby that a woman carries within her womb.
The Chinese fertility calendar works based on chart that is set out in terms of the month of the baby’s conception and the age of the mother.
The Chinese fertility calendar is based on the lunar calendar rather than the usual Gregorian calendar that we use usually. Â So it is the waxing and waning of the moon upon which this calendar is based.
Many websites claim that women who follow the Chinese fertility calendar chart have 80% to 90% success in predicting the sex of their babies, however the scientific basis of this is questionable. When I took this test based on the Chinese fertility calendar twice, for my two children, I found the results to be inaccurate both times.
Perhaps the chart is an oversimplification of the actual Chinese fertility calendar which is actually rather complicated and involved. It is in any case rather difficult to believe that all women of a certain age will conceive babies of only one sex in a given month.
In discussions in several forums such as this discussion here, which has an incredible number of replies posted (over four hundred thousand!), the results of test as posted by thousands upon thousands of the mothers the results appear to be mixed.
The Chinese fertility calendar assumed a lot of significance when it was adopted by the Chinese government as a tool for family planning. People were recommended the use of the calendar to plan their families, which by Chinese law were required to be restricted to only one child per set of parents under the one child policy.
The Chinese fertility calendar is therefore regarded as something of cultural treasure; however its accuracy is in no way proven by any scientific study or empirical data.
So when you have the facility of an ultrasound to tell you incontrovertibly what color to paint your nursery in preparation of the new arrival, perhaps the Chinese fertility calendar may provide some amusement for the expectant mother and those close to her.
