In this lecture, she will talk about: 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. Demostration 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!

1. Meh Dai – Cantonese
Babywearing
Alice Chau
Certified Trageschule Babywearing Consultant
Birth and Postpartum Doula, DONA International

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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!

5. ##### play time #####
To try on the 3 traditional Meh Dais!

6. 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

7. 孭帶

8. Intensive training on Chinese
writing

9. 子

13. 子

17. 孭帶

18. SHOCKING NEWS!
But we actually call every sling
Meh Dai in Cantonese!

19. Modern vs traditional

20. So what is a Meh Dai?

21. Demonstration

22. BUT!
Due to the way the 4 straps sit on the
chest, sometimes we call the
‘traditional Meh Dai’
• the ‘four claws Meh Dai’

23. 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.

24. 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.

25. 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.

26. 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!

41. Meh Dai as
cultural artifacts

42. Meh Dai as
cultural artifacts

43. Meh Dai as
cultural artifacts

44. Meh Dai as identity

45. Meh Dai as identity

46. Meh Dai as identity

47. Meh Dai as fashion icon

48. Meh Dai as fashion icon

49. Past vs Present

52. Thank you!

53. Quick note:
Just a quick note about the whole
Mei Tai vs Meh Dai saga…
You are welcome to ask me more
questions afterwards.

54. • 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

55. • 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
(!)

56. Unless everyone just
learn Cantonese!

57. • 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’