Difficult childbirth is intimately connected to women’s bodies. However, in ancient China technical knowledge and management of complications went beyond understanding the female body—it involved astrological predictions to foresee complications, numerological methods for selecting delivery locations, pharmacological solutions—both medicinal and magical—to facilitate uncomplicated childbirth, and religious rituals to provide comfort after the death of the mother or the fetus or both.
This project takes astrology as a starting point to highlight the conceptual and technical differences in handling difficult childbirth across various disciplines. In astrology, difficult childbirth is seen as a predetermined outcome—certain celestial configurations foretell its inevitable occurrence. The only way to counter this is to consult different astrological elements, as these offer alternative interpretations that either offset or mitigate the severity of the original configuration’s predicted outcome.
The knowledge and methods from different fields, such as astrology, divination, medicine, and religion, were closely tied to their own knowledge systems. Each of these fields underwent a historical evolution, part of which involved being associated with approaches and explanations for difficult childbirth. Nevertheless, whether there were certain connections between the foci and methods of the different fields applied to difficult childbirth during the Ming and Qing periods needs further exploration. Additionally this research will explore whether difficult childbirth was perceived and managed differently in other regions or even among domesticated animals.