A woman from a rural area of China has saved over 1 million yuan (US$158,000) working as a nanny for urban mothers and their newborn babies in the first month after birth, a newspaper reported.
It is a custom for Chinese mothers to stay at home for a month after having a child and Li Guoqin’s increasing salary over the years for carrying out the traditional work is a sign of the rising affluence in China’s cities.
Li, 55, used to get paid 2,000 yuan a month and has worked as a nanny for 13 years. She now charges about 14,000 yuan, rising to 20,000 yuan if a couple has twins, Qianjiang Evening News reported..
Li entered the profession in Ningbo in Zhejiang province. The money she has saved over the years has allowed her to pay for her son and daughter to go to university and to buy them homes in Beijing and Wuhan.
The custom of Chinese mothers “sitting the month” involves a complicated set of restrictions and rituals, such as staying indoors, not washing your hair and drinking lots of chicken soup.
