Rihanna, Bruce Lee, Martin Luther King Jnr – are babies born in the Year of the Dragon luckier than others? Why Chinese parents want ‘dragon children’
- Martial arts actor Bruce Lee, activist Martin Luther King Jnr and singer Rihanna have one thing in common: they were all born in the Year of the Dragon
- More births are recorded in Chinese communities in the Year of the Dragon than any other year – parents believe it is the most auspicious sign to be born under
The Year of the Dragon – the next one begins on February 10, 2024 – is thought to be a very favourable year in which to have children. The dragon is the only mythical beast in the Chinese zodiac and is a symbol of power and greatness.
There are more births recorded in Hong Kong and China in the Year of the Dragon than in any other year in the 12-year Chinese calendrical cycle.
In 2000, a dragon year, the birth rate in Hong Kong increased by over five per cent. Mainland China saw a rise in births in 2012, a jump of nearly 950,000 when compared to the previous year.
As 2024 approaches, terms like “dragon babies” or “dragon bb” are among the most searched and trending online in China.
Some internet users there seem determined to have a baby in the following 12 months – one wrote: “Everyone I know who was born in the Year of the Dragon has good fortune; they all live a wealthy life.”
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How will your Chinese zodiac fare in the Year of the Dragon?
Others have expressed concern about the number of children born in the same year.
“I was born in 2000, and by the time I took the college entrance examination, the score requirements skyrocketed,” a user said on Xiaohongshu, a popular Chinese social media platform.
There are many famous people from all walks of life who were born in dragon years.
While Chinese parents consider having a child born in the Year of the Dragon a blessing, academic studies show that the belief “babies born in dragon years can achieve higher” might simply be the result of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
In “Can Superstition Create a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy? School Outcomes of Dragon Children in China”, published in the Journal of Human Capital in 2020, authors Naci Mocan and Han Yu analysed education data related to “dragon babies” in China.
They looked at family background, school test scores and college entrance exam results.
They found that children born in a Year of the Dragon are 14 per cent more likely to earn a bachelor’s degree and that parents of these children have higher confidence in their offspring than parents whose children were born under any of the other 11 zodiac animal signs.
According to their findings, these parents intentionally choose to give birth during the Year of the Dragon and to invest more time, money, and energy in raising these children. They provide them with more pocket money and assign them fewer chores to allow them to concentrate more on their studies.
The authors concluded that the higher academic achievements of those born in the Year of the Dragon in China were largely the result of higher expectations and the extra resources invested in their upbringing and education.
