It Takes a Village
The Art of Mothering
Muralist Jiang Zhuqing on creating art and family
On a recent Tuesday, painter Jiang Zhuqing had yet to put the finishing touches on work that would soon be on public display. As part of Common Ground, a digital art festival that takes place at the Huan Tie Art Museum from November 9 to 19, Jiang plans to show an abstract creation that use cassette tape ribbon and black hair clips to embroider a human shape.
Titled Li Yue (礼 乐), or “Etiquette, Music,” these works are part of a series Jiang calls Tian Ren He Yi (天人合一), or “The Combining of Humans and Nature.” She says she hopes to make people think about the important relationship between human beings and the world.
In a few weeks time, more than 40 artists from around the world will present works on the theme of the environment. Jiang, an associate professor at Tsinghua University’s Academy of Art and Design, decided to take part in Common Ground after she saw how innovative the other artists’ works were.
In Sickness and in Health
Straight talk from a family doctor
It’s not always easy adjusting to a life in a new country, and parents are right to have many questions when it comes to health and living in a new place. This month, American Marie Shieh, a family doctor at Beijing United Family Hospital and the BJU Shunyi Clinic, answers beijingkids readers’ questions about staying healthy in Beijing.
beijingkids: How will the air affect children? Especially children under 2 years of age?
Dr. Shieh: There was a study on kids aged 5 to 18 in the United States. They tested children who grew up in Los Angeles, a polluted area, against kids who grew up in cleaner air. The results showed that the children in Los Angeles had a slightly lower lung function, but that doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t mean they can’t run or do sports any better or worse than other kids. As for living here for a long time, we’re not sure how that translates for children. We don’t have any research on that yet.
Baby Origami
Hand-free ways to carry your baby
Babywearing, or the act of using a long swath of fabric to secure a baby to a caretaker’s body, has roots in dozens of countries and every continent. This ultra-convenient mode of baby transportation has seemingly endless benefits: the elevated position of the baby provides him or her a better place to observe and engage with the world, babies who are attached to adults cry 46 percent less, and the person-to-person contact promotes overall well-being. So put away the stroller and roam with your baby, arms swinging freely!
Asian Mei Tai This square fabric has four straps that tie around the body so the child rests in the front or back. In southwest China, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam, mei tais are worn with either a double or single strap. The mei tai originates from China, where women used them to carry their children while they worked in the fields.
The Inuit Amauti
In the subpolar regions of the Canadian Arctic, Greenland, Alaska and Eastern Siberia, Inuit women wear a parka called an amauti to carry babies and toddlers. The amauti is a coat with a pouch on the back where the baby can rest against the mother’s back. The large hood can keep both mother and child warm in chilly environments.
Conversing with Ayi
How to get your point across in Chinese
Many expat parents in Beijing have experienced difficulties communicating with their ayis, since ni hao and zenme yang aren’t sufficient to express concepts such as: “Don’t give the kids ice cream before dinner.” Let the Immersion Guides’ Mandarin Phrasebook come to your rescue! If you need help communicating with your ayi – from interviewing her about previous employment details, to giving instructions about your cleaning and cooking preferences – you’ll appreciate the following excerpt from the Childcare section (in the Kids and Family Life chapter).
“Childcare”
带孩子
daì haízi
This is very important …
这个很重要…
(zhègè hěn zhòng yào)
Schooling All Over the World
Understanding the educational systems of different countries
The concept of school is pretty much universal: Kids in most countries start going to school from a certain age until they reach adulthood. But not every country abides by the same system.
In the United States, kids start attending school when they are at the age of 5, and are required to complete 12 years of primary and secondary education prior to attending university or college. The first year of school is called kindergarten and is followed by a second year, which is considered the first year of primary school and usually goes up to Grade 6. Middle school, or junior high school, usually consists of 7th and 8th Grades (but sometimes also includes 9th Grade), and high school finishes with Grade 12. After high school comes college, for which students will need to take their SATs when they are in their third year of high school. “The SATs are the closest to intelligence and aptitude that can be achieved in one test,” comments Michigan resident and mother of two, Debbie Angle. “When considered with school performances and other aspects of a student’s academic life, it is the best way to assess a student.”
Winding Down the Clock
Ways to celebrate the New Year around the world
In most places around the world, the old year ends on December 31, the last day of the Gregorian calendar, and is marked by boisterous parties to bring in the New Year. It is a common practice in the UK and the States for people to go out with friends and wait for the clock to strike midnight. When that happens, people often join together to sing “Auld Lang Syne,” which means “times gone by” and is a song that says goodbye to the previous year.
Holidays of the Season
December celebrations around the world
Whether you celebrate or not, once December rolls around, the thought of Christmas is on everyone’s mind. “My family gathers together to share special foods, especially homemade tortellini, panettone and pandoro and gifts on Christmas Eve,” says Sara Platto, who is from Brescia in northern Italy. “There is lots of talking and singing and plenty of relatives gathered together to make it a big celebration. I am pregnant, and will be going home to Italy for Christmas and to have my baby, so this year it will be a double celebration.”
Mother Knows Best
Tried-and-true home remedies for the common cold
Sneeze once and you will have a long life of 100 years; sneeze twice and you will live 200 years; sneeze three times and your longevity will last 300 years or more. So goes an old saying in Beijing. And with the cold season fast approaching, there may be many sneezes to come.
Almost every household boasts a home remedy for the common cold or sore throat. An Australian mother of three, Adele Doherty, remembers her mother dabbing eucalyptus oil on her handkerchief and pillowcase at night so she could inhale its aroma to help clear nasal passages. “Eucalyptus is readily available in Australia, and we would use it often to help with congestion and as an aid to cure colds,” says Adele.
What to Do With a Lost Tooth
Tooth traditions from around the world
Losing one's baby teeth is a universal experience, and in many Western countries a tooth fairy will exchange them for money. "When my son Arthur started losing his teeth at 6, we told him to put the tooth under his pillow and the tooth fairy would come at night to give him money," said Matt Roberts, father of two. "Then we put a little money, like 10 kuai, or sometimes a little toy, under his pillow."
The
tooth fairy's origins are thought to be rooted in an 18th century
French fairy tale called "La Bonne Petite Souris," where a fairy
changes into a mouse to help a good queen defeat an evil king by
hiding under his pillow to torment him and knock out all his teeth.
In Spain, a tooth mouse, known as "Ratoncito Perez," substitutes
a tooth under a pillow for money or sweets. In Mexico, children leave
their baby teeth next to a mouse hole, outdoors, or anyplace they
think a mouse will find it.
Picking Up Pocket Money
Who gives their kids pocket money, and how much?
Every Chinese kid knows exactly what to expect from the Spring Festival: those lucky red envelopes stuffed with crisp, clean 100 kuai bills bestowed on them by adoring relatives. However, as China’s economy booms and parents find themselves with increasingly large amounts of disposable income, more and more kids are discovering that they don’t have to wait until February to get hold of a little extra cash. Last year, Chinese parents outdid their Japanese and Korean neighbors and gave their offspring a whopping RMB 60 million in allowance. Since 2000, Chinese children’s income via allowance has doubled, and their spending has almost tripled, a recent survey by global market research company Synovate has found.
