How old are you? Seriously, are you sure about that? If you come to China, you might be a different age. And your birthday might be on a different day.
Back in Blighty I was, of course, born at the ripe old age of 0. You are 0 when you are born, and then twelve months later you celebrate the anniversary of the day of your birth: It's your 1st birthday, you are 1 year old. Right? Right?
Well... maybe. Sometimes. But not all the time. In China, you are born at the age of 1. So people are a year older than they would be if they were born outside of China. I was fearful of my big three-oh approaching while I was in China, but without me even realising it I had already crossed that threshold and was hurtling towards my 31st! Hmm... Actually, nowadays this isn't strictly true, especially if you live in a city like I do. But elsewhere, further afield, the old system is still very much in use.
Then there's the subject of birthdays. My girlfriend isn't entirely clear about when hers is. She claims that since she wasn't born in a hospital, she has no birth certificate. And the date of birth on her ID card is her lunar birthday... (It's also on her passport, and who knows how many other things... is that entirely legal?) So each year she gets a phonecall from her mother to wish her a happy birthday, but it's a different date each year - but it's the same date on the lunar calendar.
Moral of the story: Travel to China if you want to be older, leave China if you want to be younger again. I once had a theory that you could age backwards by crossing the international dateline from west to east many times in succession. I'm sure I could tie this into the Chinese age system if I could be bothered.
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