Shanghai Woman Dies During “Confinement” in Unairconditioned Room

Shanghai Woman Dies During “Confinement” in Unairconditioned Room
Aug 07, 2015 By eChinacities.com

A Shanghai woman died of heat stroke while “sitting the month,” in her non-air conditioned apartment. Temperatures in Shanghai have hovered at 35°C this past week.

The traditional practice of “sitting the month,” or “confinement,” after childbirth is still followed by some Chinese women today. During confinement, women must stay in bed, not bathe or wash her hair, and follow a number of other rules.

The woman who died while “sitting the month,” lived in Shanghai's Fengxian District. Her maternal family insisted that she follow the tradition, and covered her with blankets in an unairconditioned room. She suffered a heat stroke on August 3 and died in the hospital, leaving her newborn child without a mother.

This is the second incident of a woman dying during confinement in Shanghai in 2015. A woman died from a pulmonary embolism during Spring Festival after she was physically inactive during her confinement period.

Source: thepaper.cn

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Keywords: Shanghai confinement Shanghai heat stroke Sitting the month

15 Comments

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greenchaser

Poor Woman probably died from the smell. I'm no expert but I'd imagine Women look forward to a nice bath after giving birth.

Aug 12, 2015 12:39 Report Abuse

Benjamin321

Chinese traditional superstition strikes again.

Aug 11, 2015 01:49 Report Abuse

Guest2368048

They call themselves Chinese? Child birth isn't a new invention, along with other reasons with this level of ignorance of Chinese culture no wonder Chinese in other parts of Asia address this bunch as mainlanders, not Chinese. This is what happens when you blindly follow bits and pieces of guidelines with neither understanding of what those guidelines are nor the reasons for their existence. Who says you can't turn on the air-cond in the summer during the poorly translated 'confinement period'? A home-based holiday for both mother and child depicts the period far better. This is time well spent when both mother, and child in particular, have a lot of adjustments to do. Plain common sense. Back to air-cond, the ancients didn't have it, doctors made house call and the mothers gave birth at home, same temperature before and after birth! "Confinement practices are traditional postnatal practices aimed at helping a new mum recover from the rigours of pregnancy, labour and birth. Mum and baby are said to be in confinement because they are effectively "quarantined" at home. Traditionally, they do not receive visitors apart from close family members until the confinement period is over. In Malaysia, our ethnic Chinese, Malay and Indian communities all have their respective confinement practices. The common thread amongst the practices of the different communities is to support the new mum and help her recover from childbirth as well as regain her physical and emotional strength." www.babycenter.com.my/a1021145/confinement-practices-an-overview

Aug 09, 2015 07:01 Report Abuse

ScotsAlan

I thought the cultural revolution was supposed to have got rid of this stupid hocus pocus.

Aug 08, 2015 17:39 Report Abuse

dokken

This is nonsense. You would have to be outside exposed to the extreme heat of the sun. If I googled, how many examples of people dying indoors from heat stroke would there be? If I asked a doctor if this is possible what would they say? Indoors is shaded. You don't need AC to survive. This article is total bull

Aug 08, 2015 05:05 Report Abuse

diverdude1

TCM is such a load of .... well, I'll try to remain polite. I have actually seen living proof/examples of what one would consider to be relatively well-educated young people from countries other than China subscribe to the practice of 'Fire Cupping'. Simple proof that the homo sapiens can easily have reason usurped by even the most unlikely influence/doctrine.

Aug 07, 2015 23:51 Report Abuse

dongbeiren

Casualty of witch doctor superstition

Aug 07, 2015 23:35 Report Abuse

Quinn68

She should have drank hot water.

Aug 07, 2015 20:19 Report Abuse

Suhaa

I was wondering how did Chinese people became almost 1.6 billion with these traditional things!!!

Aug 07, 2015 18:30 Report Abuse

carlstar

babies are made to stay in hot unconditioned rooms too. Sure they will be ok and won't die

Aug 07, 2015 18:17 Report Abuse

kuntmans

Confinement is necessary for everyone in this extreme heat. Nothing to do with practice of yuezi / ''sitting month". The tone of these articles often appears deliberately framed to get a mocking or negative reaction from otherwise confused laowai's

Aug 07, 2015 16:34 Report Abuse

silverbutton1

What's so confusing about a person dying from a internal heat related injury by having blankets on in bed within the confines of a room that is not air conditioned during the summer (approx 35 C)? Looks pretty obvious on how and why she died.

Aug 07, 2015 17:30 Report Abuse

nzteacher80

There isn't anything to be confused about. "Sitting the month" is unscientific and nothing short of superstitious. I'm often shocked at how Chinese people hold onto such beliefs. Sure thing it's great to have traditions, just as long as they don't kill you and orphan your child.

Aug 07, 2015 19:00 Report Abuse

Hotwater

We're not confused at all. We know that 月子 is a bloody stupid tradition and that with you're comment you've lived up to your name Kunt

Aug 07, 2015 20:48 Report Abuse

Robk

The first half of your name is fitting. Her death had everything to do with being pushed into a bad situation by an age old stupid tradition.

Aug 08, 2015 12:12 Report Abuse