Meh Dai – Cantonese Babywearing

Alice Chau

Certified Trageschule Babywearing Consultant

Birth and Postpartum Doula, DONA International

Who is Alice?

• Certified Trageschule Babywearing Consultant• Birth and Postpartum doula, DONA International• Born in Hong Kong• Lived in Paris• Currently live in Dublin• Married to a Canadian• Very proud of her Cantonese heritage• Co-owner of LOVA Sling

In today’s lecture…

1. What does 'Mei Tai / Meh Dai' actually means in Cantonese?

2. History of Meh Dai

3. How Meh Dai show case the aesthetic of the traditional Chinese 'Han' outfit

4. Demonstration on the authentic traditional way to tie a Meh Dai

5. How Meh Dai managed to turn Hong Kong from a fishing village to the world important financial city (The sociol-economic importance of Meh Dai in the post war development of Hong Kong)

6. Meh Dai as survival tool / cultural artefact / fashion item? And how LOVA Sling was born.

7. Chinese parenting

8. Q & A on all things Chinese!

##### play time #####

To try on the 3 traditional Meh Dais!

The language

• 孭帶• Meh Dai is a Cantonese word, not

mandarin word or any other Chinese languages.

• ‘Meh’ = ‘carry’, e.g. carrying a bag• ‘Dai’ =‘strap’ if uses as noun, or

‘bring’ if uses as a verb

孭帶

Intensive training on Chinese writing

子

子

孭帶

SHOCKING NEWS!

But we actually call every sling Meh Dai in Cantonese!

Modern vs traditional

So what is a Meh Dai?

Demonstration

BUT!

Due to the way the 4 straps sit on the chest, sometimes we call the ‘traditional Meh Dai’

• the ‘four claws Meh Dai’

So is Meh Dai Chinese?

• After hours of research, I cannot find any artifacts of Mei Dai from China on the internet! However, I can’t find any artifact of mother, or child for that matter! So it could be just be the fact that motherhood and parenting is not something that are respected in Chinese history. As a result, historian didn’t feel the need to record anything.

So is Meh Dai chinese?

• Since the object is made with fabric, it’s also impossible to preserve well enough until now.

• I believe in order to seriously explore the origin of Cantonese Mei Tai, I will need to have access to Chinese library, probably in the University of Hong Kong or in the National Museum in Beijing, which is not possible at the moment.

So is Meh Dai chinese?

• However, for the purpose of this presentation, we can look into Meh Dai in the post-war Hong Kong time

• We can also explore the role of Meh Dai from a cultural, socio-economical point of view at the turn of the 20th century and its current development in Hong Kong.

Meh Dai as a social-economical force in Hong Kong

• Post war economy

• Meh Dai as a crucial device for survival

• Women could work while minding children

• Siblings can help with child minding

• Baby off the floor!

Meh Dai as cultural artifacts

Meh Dai as cultural artifacts

Meh Dai as cultural artifacts

Meh Dai as identity

Meh Dai as identity

Meh Dai as identity

Meh Dai as fashion icon

Meh Dai as fashion icon

Past vs Present

Thank you!

Quick note:

Just a quick note about the whole Mei Tai vs Meh Dai saga…

You are welcome to ask me more questions afterwards.

• Not possible to 100% accurate to romanise Cantonese language –there have been many attempts, e.g. early British scholars, modern attempt for computers

• Some sound just doesn’t exist

• And we have 9 tones

• The new spelling is another failed attempt

• We also need new spelling for all other words

E.g. Chow mein, dim sum, wonton, ketchup, kung fu, my name (!)

Unless everyone just learn Cantonese!

• There is genuine cultural appropriation in this world, e.g. certain Chinese restaurant in Dublin (ask me for the name afterwards if you are interested!), fake Chinese outfit, etc

• But I just can’t see another romantisation replacing the existing one solve the problem

• At home, we call the ‘Chinese sling’