"In post-war days, you could tell whether a mother had had a boy or a girl by the kind of chicken she was getting," points out Mrs. Li of Taipei. A cockerel means a girl and a young hen means a boy, because a hen's meat is tender and nourishing, but a cockerel's is much tougher.
「四十年前去產婦家，只要看殺什麼雞，就知道生男生女了」，住在台北的李太太表示，殺公雞一定是生女兒，殺小母雞就是生男孩，因為小母雞的肉質鮮嫩富營養，公雞則粗硬得多。