[The analysis of the eugenic culture in ancient China].

There was a centuries-old culture of eugenics in ancient China. We should have comprehensive and objective cognition of this tradition. The ancient people did not generally advocate marrying at a mature age as do people of modern times. They not only considered the prepotency, but also were influenced by other complicated social factors on the problem of mate selection. Although advocates of coition techniques claimed the purpose of prepotency, the eugenic effect of coition techniques deserved to be suspect. Regarding the aspect of embryo conservation and care, the most significant thing was not so-called "prenatal education", but various antenatal care methods which were proposed by TCM scholars. By making a comparison with modern eugenics, the ancient eugenics had the characteristics of valuing the male child only, commiserating with deformity and being based on familial values.