He likens it to an initiation ceremony. Just as boys coming of age among the Atayal aborigines of Wulai go off to live in the mountains for a month and receive painful facial tattoos to mark the entrance to adulthood, Chinese women in confinement follow rules different from the norm to prepare themselves psychologically for starting out in their new role as mothers.
他認為，就像烏來泰雅族山胞的成年禮是讓即將成年的男孩子進入山中生活一個月，並且在這段時間內接受痛苦的臉部刺青一樣，中國女人在坐月子的一個月當中，也藉著種種異於平日的規範，使自己做好心理調適；一個月後，再以「母親」這個新身分、新角色出現。