In Dragon Babies, Greater Pride and Joy
Bing Wang and Shaun Gong plan to ring in the Chinese New Year Wednesday by taking their 10-month-old daughter, Anna Ying Gong, to Hsi Lai Temple in Hacienda Heights to burn incense in hopes it will bring her extra good luck. But fortune already has smiled on the child.
Anna, born March 6, came into the world in the Year of the Dragon, the most fortuitous sign in the Chinese zodiac. Her parents, like many Asian Americans, planned it just that way.
The couple, both born in China, met in Los Angeles and married in 1997. Now American citizens, they cling to some Chinese traditions. They wanted a child and, Wang says, “we thought, ‘Hey, if everything works out, we’d like to have a little dragon baby.’ ”
Her husband laughs and says, “If we’d been successful on the first try, she’d have been born in the Year of the Rabbit.” Not a bad sign, mind you--babies born under the rabbit sign are said to be affectionate and pleasant.
But a rabbit is no dragon.
“Children born in the Year of the Dragon are considered extremely lucky, powerful, talented,” says Xiao-Huang Yin, associate professor of Asian American studies at Occidental College. “In China, the dragon is almost a godlike figure. Until 1911, when the Ching Dynasty was overthrown, only the emperors could use the dragon to decorate their houses, their teacups. It’s always linked with royalty, a symbol of power.”
From the San Gabriel Valley to Orange County, in communities with large Asian populations, hospitals report a baby boomlet, with some mothers-to-be going so far as to ask to have labor induced, or to have Caesarean births, in order to deliver under the wire.
What’s the rush? Well, Wednesday the new year begins, the Chinese year 4698, the Year of the Snake. It’s not that the snake is so bad--those born under its sign are said to be wise and profound. But a snake’s a snake. (Indeed, the snake year is sometimes called the Year of the Small Dragon, to make it sound more desirable.)
Even as they become Westernized, many people of Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean--and to some extent, Japanese--descent still embrace some of the ancient beliefs. Yin says immigrant families and the first generation of those who are American-born adhere most closely to custom. He observes that, while those who have lived a long time in this country tend to shed tradition, there is an “awakening” among the fourth generation, which is searching for “ethnic identity.” Others note that if a young American-born couple have Asian-born parents living nearby, they also are more apt to observe the traditions.
Hoping to have dragon babies, a number of women started taking fertility drugs during the year, reports Ni-Wei Chu, head labor and delivery nurse at Garfield Hospital in Monterey Park, which has experienced an increase in births of 6% to 8%.
A number of Asian women have asked to have their babies delivered at an exact day and hour--times singled out by a Chinese fortuneteller as the most auspicious. But the hospital has discouraged mothers from inducing birth with drugs or having Caesarean deliveries. “If it’s not ready, we won’t do it,” says Chu. “We don’t want any weak dragons. We would rather have strong snakes.”
At Methodist Hospital in Arcadia, which reports a 13% increase in Asian births from 1999 to 2000, Dr. Kee S. Koh, chairman of the obstetrics and gynecology department, has also been reluctant to accommodate those who wanted induced births. Still, he understands the parents’ eagerness to have a dragon baby. The hospital will honor the dragon baby born closest to midnight tonight with a big gift basket.
“Everybody wants to have the baby this year,” says Dr. Babatunde Eboreime, an obstetrician and gynecologist at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena. She reports an estimated 50% rise in the birth rate among those of Asian descent, an increasingly large ethnic group in the San Gabriel Valley.
San Gabriel Medical Center hired additional nurses and added more Lamaze classes to accommodate an approximate 20% increase in Asian births. “This year we hit capacity,” says clinical care manager Aurlene Andrews. “Some days it seems people are having kids in the hallways.”
The rush to have dragon babies--an opportunity that comes only every 12 years--is attributable to East Asians’ traditional belief that those born under the dragon sign have everything going for them. They are said to be popular, fun-loving, powerful, invincible, intelligent, ambitious, adventuresome, creative and altogether exceptional.
In China, where since ancient times astrology has been used in predicting everything from the outcome of wars to economic booms and busts, the zodiac consists of a repeated cycle of 12 animal signs, starting with the rat (dragon is the fifth). Legends vary as to how the lowly rodent became the first sign of the zodiac. One story holds that the 12 animals represented were the 12 species that responded when Buddha summoned all the animals to come to him before he left Earth. The rat, first to arrive, was rewarded by being the first sign.
According to another legend, the 12 animals started quarreling over who would be first and, to settle the matter, the gods directed them to swim to the opposite bank of a river, thus deciding the first-place finisher. The ox, it’s told, reached shore first but, unbeknownst to the poor ox, the rat was riding piggyback and jumped ashore first.
While a dragon year is in itself special, the year that ends at midnight tonight is extra special, as it is the millennium year on the Western calendar. On the Chinese calendar, it is also a golden dragon year, an event that occurs only every 60 years. According to Chinese tradition, there are five elements--earth, water, wood, fire and metal--each of which appears every 60 years, helping to determine a child’s fate and characteristics. The luckiest of these is metal, or gold. Those born under the sign of metal are believed to be confident, determined and to love power and luxury.
“It’s very special, precious, and of course the color gold symbolizes prosperity,” says Wang, mother of golden dragon baby Anna.
“In Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, this is like a baby boom every 12th year,” says Edward Chen, a native of Taiwan who is marketing director of the El Monte-based Asian-American Assn. “The governments all over Asia were trying to prevent this from happening,” citing concerns about overcrowded schools and overpopulation.
Historically, only boy babies born under the dragon sign were seen as special, but today, girls too are considered blessed. The one to be avoided with girl babies, Yin notes, is the tiger, as tradition holds that a female baby born under that sign is too strong-willed to be marriageable.
Like many Asian American couples, Wang, 33, a violinist and assistant concertmaster with the L.A. Philharmonic, and Gong, 37, a real-estate manager, straddle two cultures. Their Pasadena home is feng shui-correct, they consulted the Chinese lunar calendar before choosing a wedding date, and they asked a Chinese fortuneteller if they were suitably matched for matrimony.
Wang laughs and says, “We were already engaged. I don’t know what we’d have done if he’d told us this was a bad match.” As it turned out, the fortuneteller found them most compatible astrologically. (She’s a sheep; he’s a rabbit).
Likewise, they consulted a fortuneteller before choosing a name for their baby. They’d decided on a Western first name, Anna, but a Chinese middle name. When the fortuneteller told them the baby was lacking in the fire element, they chose Ying, which means “jade out of the fire.” Asks Wang, “If it helps, why not?”
Gong says, “We’ve departed a little bit from tradition, but we still do believe. We do not do things as strictly as our parents did when we were young, but the main elements we consider very important.”
As for the mystique of the dragon, Occidental’s Yin says, “I don’t think there’s any scientific evidence for it,” only folkloric. Mao Tse-tung, the once powerful father of the Cultural Revolution, was not a dragon, but a rabbit. On the other hand, prominent dragons include authors Amy Tan and Maxine Hong Kingston and late martial-arts film star Bruce Lee.
And, being born a dragon entitles one to bragging rights. Yin (a horse) says, “If you’re born in the year of the chicken, you don’t really have anything to say. If you’re born in the year of the horse, you have nothing to brag about.”
Chinese Americans Christine Che, 24, and husband Zhen Situ, 25, of El Monte, parents of two sons, were thrilled to learn that they were expecting a “dragon baby” girl in September. Che thought her doctor was kidding when he told her she was expecting triplets--three dragon-baby girls. “I only wanted one!” she said. The astrologically blessed girls are Krissy, Kailah and Kaylee.
The Chou family of Azusa was doubly blessed. Jimy Chou, 47, proprietor of the Crown Cafe in San Gabriel and wife Pei Ching (Cindy) Lee, 36, a dealer at the Bicycle Casino, had been trying for four years to conceive. In February, she learned she was pregnant, and in August she gave birth to dragon baby twins, Danny and Jessica. Says Chou, “Wow! I’m really happy. If you’re good in your past life, in this life you get fortune. I must have been a nice guy in my past life.”
