Today, let’s talk about Chinese culture and traditions, in particular, Zou Yue Zi. If it’s your first time hearing this term, you are not alone as we only heard of this term just last week. We thought that it was too interesting not to share so here we go.

Zou Yue Zi (坐月子) which means ” sitting the month” is an established ancient Chinese custom where the new mother is expected to stay indoors for 30 days to rest.

The culture and traditions of the Chinese are deeply ingrained in their being – it is who they are. This means that if you’re a foreigner wanting to marry a Chinese lady, you’d have to adjust yourself with how their way of life is influenced by beliefs and traditions that have been practiced since ancient times. You can get away with it, figuratively speaking, when you’re living in another country, but it’s a different story when you’re living in China.

One such tradition that, most likely, foreigners will find hard to understand is the Zou Yue Zi which means “sitting month”.

What is it?

Zou Tue Zi is a 30-day custom practiced in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. What it is is basically a set of rules for what a new mother should do right after giving birth. The main goal is for the mother to rest and regain the nutrients that she lost during childbirth. It is also said that it will re-balance her physiology and it will help her avoid health problems in the future.

Examples of the Rules

The new mother should:

• Stay indoors the entire time. She can have visitors but only a few with the exception of her mother-in-law and mother who will be very involved in the process.
• She needs to spend most of her time lying in bed. She may only leave the bed when she feels like using the toilet.
• By extension, no cooking, no working, no cleaning (the house and herself), no lifting and no to other activities that require her to exert effort.
• Not cleaning herself was already mentioned but, in particular, no washing of her body and her hair is allowed. Serious practitioners don’t even brush their teeth.
• The new mother should keep warm at all times. This means that she needs to wear warm clothes like pajamas, long-sleeved shirts, long trousers, thick socks, a hat, and gloves. This also means no air-conditioning and no fan even if it’s summer.
• Though these may not seem to require a lot of effort, they are still not permitted: read, watch TV, send or receive text, play with her phone or tablet, and take phone calls. However, listening to the radio or to music is ok.

Why does a Chinese lady want to do Zou Yue Zi?

There are several reasons, but we thought of 3 main ones:

1. Pressure from the mother or the mother-in-law.
2. The new mother is a believer of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
3. She’s scared into the practice with people constantly telling her that she’s going to suffer future health problems if she doesn’t do the custom.

If your Chinese lady really wants to do this practice, even if you’re not living in China, you just let her do so because it is part of her culture. Now that you’ve read this, you can formulate the things that you can do to support her. Try to understand it from her standpoint. Though strange, you’d have to admit if there’s any truth to the effects of the ancient practice.