Today my son asked our Ayi how old she is. She said she is 37. In an amazing twist of fate, my husband and our Ayi were born on exactly the same day. He is 35. Just to be clear, when I said exactly the same day, I meant of the same year. "How can this be?" you ask? Chinese Math. Let me break it down for you.
At China (as Mr. Mao would say), when you are born you are 1.
Every year 7 days after Chinese New Year, you celebrate your birthday along with every other regular Chinese person. This is called Renri, aka everyman's birthday. It was this past Sunday this year. This is the day that you grow one year older, rather than the actual day you were born.
This explains why I've had so much trouble figuring out how old Mr. Mao is. And now I'm wondering about their kids... Ah, so many questions! Is this how the rest of the world feels about regular math?
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