Chinese Lunar Calendar: Gender Predictor Chart

As in all patriarchal societies, the Chinese throughout history have always preferred the birth of a baby boy to a girl. China has traditionally been an agricultural society, hence, in the past, having more boys meant that there would be more hands to work on the fields, which, of course brought in more money. Whereas the girls just stayed at home until they reached marriageable age – sixteen or seventeen – during which time they were considered to be just an expense on the family. In addition, according to Chinese custom, it was only boys that could inherit the ancestral property, and carry on the family business or farm. Hence, it is hardly surprising that the ancient Chinese devised a method of being able to predict the gender of the unborn child.

The Chinese Gender Predictor Chart, also known as the Chinese Lunar Calendar or The Chinese Birth Chart, is therefore considered one of the oldest methods of predicting the sex of a child before its birth. This 7,000-year-old chart, which is said to have been devised by an ancient Chinese scientist, was apparently discovered buried in a tomb near Beijing about 700 years back. At present, the original chart is in the Institute of Science in Beijing.

In recent times, the Chinese Gender Chart has also come into increasing use by the Chinese because of government policies that require couples to limit reproduction to a single child.

The surprising thing about the Chinese Gender Predictor Chart is that it is supposed to predict the sex of the child long before a woman even conceives, and its accuracy rate is said to be above 90 percent. Although that figure is in dispute, with some saying that it’s just 75 percent accurate, while skeptics pooh-pooh it as being more in the 50 percent range of accuracy, which would be the case in any random method of gender prediction.

Basically, the Chinese Gender Predictor Chart is based on the Lunar Calendar. This calendar indicates dates according to the phases of the moon. A lunar month is determined by the period of time it takes the moon to complete its full cycle comprising of 291/2 days, which makes the lunar year 11 days shorter than the solar year.

The Chinese Gender Chart is thought to be able to predict the gender of a child by cross-referencing the age of the mother and the month in which she conceived. The chart has been devised on the basis of the observation that women of the same age seem to be more likely to have children of the same gender. For instance, according to the Chinese Gender Chart, a 20-year-old woman has 75 percent chance of having a boy, whereas a 21-year-old woman has 91 percent chance of getting a girl.

Even though the accuracy of the Chinese Gender Predictor Chart may be disputed, nevertheless it can be quite fun to use if you are pregnant or are thinking of adding to your family. You can find various versions of the Chinese Lunar Calendar online these days.

However, it is important to keep in mind that you need to use the Chinese lunar month and your lunar age when you check to find out if your unborn child is going to be a girl or boy. If you fail to convert the month of conception and your age, you will not get accurate results. Another usual error while using the chart is miscalculating the conception date of your child. According to the Chinese Birth Chart, a newborn child is already a year old.