Linquan Fang and his wife Zhinchun Wang met each other while both of them were studying at university, in Xian, China. Then, they married and three years ago they decided to come to the Netherlands, where both became aios to do research for the same group at the UT.
Their new baby inherited his name Daniel because of this Dutch experience. 'We wanted to put a name that could easily be used here in the Netherlands. But when we go back to China he will just use his middle and last name: Zheng Fang', explains the father.
The baby was born on the 5th of March and was taken to EL a month later to be introduced to all the colleagues and friends of his parents. Of course, he immediately turned out to be the center of attention.
Linquan Fang comments: 'This is what we do in China, the first month the mother and baby stay at home. The mother just breastfeeds the baby while the husband and the grandparents take care of everything else. The mother and baby are supposed to be weak after the labour and have to recover, so they just stay at home. But when the baby is one month old, you introduce him to relatives and friends. For the occasion, it is a tradition to boil eggs, paint them red and eat them, although most of the people don't know what it means'.
What the Chinese couple misses most about having their first-born baby far from home is the support of the family. The new father says: 'In China the grandparents help a lot with the baby; they teach you how to take care of him, they stay at your home and help you with everything. Also, if both parents work, like us, the baby will stay with the grandparents. Here, we will have to send him to the Day Care Centre on Campus until my mother-in-law comes. She will take care of the baby for six months, we are really happy with that, it is nice to have close family to share the good news.'
