什么是“坐月子”？
What is zuo yuezi? Chinese postpartum confinement explained
Name: ________________ Date: ________
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 尽量 | jǐnliàng | as much as possible |
| 神秘 | shénmì | mysterious; mystical |
| 难以 | nányǐ | hard to; difficult to |
| 传统 | chuántǒng | tradition; traditional; conventional |
| 大多 | dàduō | mostly; for the most part |
| 着凉 | zháoliáng | to catch a chill |
| 碰 | pèng | to touch; to bump |
| 饮食 | yǐnshí | food and drink; diet; eating and drinking |
| 视为 | shìwéi | to regard as; to view as |
| 合理 | hélǐ | reasonable; rational |
| 巨大 | jùdà | huge; enormous; tremendous |
| 医学 | yīxué | medicine; medical science |
Questions
传统的规矩最怕什么？
What do traditional rules fear most?
医生觉得产妇可以怎么做？
What do doctors think new mothers can do?
月子中心提供什么？
What do confinement centers provide?
Lesson plan: 45 minutes (for the teacher)
HSK 6 · What is zuo yuezi? Chinese postpartum confinement explained. By the end, students can read it aloud, say what it is about and use 尽量 and 神秘 in sentences of their own.
Warm-up 5 min
Write 什么是“坐月子”？ on the board. Ask what the class thinks it is about, then give the English: “What is zuo yuezi? Chinese postpartum confinement explained”.
Key words 10 min
Teach 尽量 (jǐnliàng, as much as possible), 神秘 (shénmì, mysterious; mystical), 难以 (nányǐ, hard to; difficult to), 传统 (chuántǒng, tradition; traditional; conventional), 大多 (dàduō, mostly; for the most part), 着凉 (zháoliáng, to catch a chill). Say each one, the class says it back, then ask for its meaning with the word covered. The rest are in the handout’s table.
Listen 10 min
Play it read aloud from mandarinthewild.com/library/read/what-is-zuo-yuezi-chinese-postpartum-confinement-explained: once with the text face down, once reading along. Students tap any word there for its meaning.
Read and check 10 min
Students read it alone, then answer the 3 questions on the handout. Go through them together; the answers and the line that proves each are on the teacher’s page.
Use it 10 min
In pairs, each student writes two sentences of their own, one with 尽量 and one with 神秘, and reads one to the class.
Homework. Students read it again at home and Review its words. Put it in a free class (mandarinthewild.com/teachers/class) and you see who read it.
English (for the teacher)
In China, after a woman gives birth she usually "sits the month": she rests at home for about a month, goes out as little as possible and is cared for by family or a hired carer. To many foreigners this custom seems both mysterious and hard to understand, yet in China almost every family can recite a set of rules about the confinement month.
Most of the traditional rules revolve around one word: "cold". Many elders believe that a woman who has just given birth is weak and most at risk from wind and chills, so during the month the doors and windows must be kept tightly shut and she must not touch cold water, and some places even forbid washing her hair, bathing or brushing her teeth for a whole month. As for food, millet porridge, brown sugar water, chicken soup and eggs are the usual "confinement meals", while raw and cold foods are treated as taboo.
Supporters argue that the heart of the custom is sound. Giving birth takes an enormous toll on the body, and medicine usually treats roughly the first six weeks after birth as the key stage of recovery. During this period a new mother needs plenty of rest and nourishment, and someone to help look after the newborn. Sitting the month makes the whole family focus its attention on the mother, and in many people's eyes that is worth passing on.
Critics point out that some of the old rules have no scientific basis and may even harm the mother's health. Doctors generally advise that new mothers can wash their hair and bathe in warm water, and should brush their teeth as normal. Lying in bed for long stretches without moving actually slows recovery and raises the risk of blood clots. And every summer the media report the same kind of story: a new mother shut in a room with the doors and windows sealed, under a thick quilt, ends up with heatstroke.
Today the custom itself is changing too. In some big cities more and more families hire a professional "yuesao", a confinement nanny, to help at home, or simply move into a "confinement centre". Like a hotel, a confinement centre provides a room, confinement meals and care for mother and newborn, and a month there can easily cost tens of thousands of yuan. Some see hiring a yuesao or staying in a centre as a worthwhile investment; others feel it is anxiety blown up by business.
In many families the confinement month is also the time when two generations' ideas clash most fiercely. The young mother just wants to wash her hair and bathe freely in warm water, while the elders worry she will "be left with a lasting ailment" and suffer for the rest of her life. With the doctor's advice on one side and the elders' care on the other, weighing the two is often more of a headache than the rules themselves.
In the end, what matters about sitting the month is not any single rule but letting a woman who has just become a mother rest properly and be properly cared for. Does your country have a similar custom? If it were you, how would you spend that month after giving birth?
Answers
- C. 受风着凉: 产妇刚生完孩子，身体虚弱，最怕受风着凉
- B. 用温水洗头、洗澡: 医生普遍建议，产妇可以用温水洗头、洗澡，也应该正常刷牙。
- B. 住宿、月子餐和护理: 提供住宿、月子餐以及产妇和新生儿的护理