Is a tigress too hard to handle?

It's uncertain how many young couples today still believe in a "Tiger curse" on girls, but age-old Chinese folklore suggests that girls born in the Year of the Tiger are destined to bring bad luck to their families.

If past records hold true to form, fewer baby girls can be expected in 2010, the Year of the Tiger in the Chinese lunar calendar. Girls born under the sign are believed to be bad-tempered, wild and unpredictable, according to Chinese folklore.

"In the old days, people believed that Tiger girls are tough people. They are too strong, maybe strong enough to overwhelm their families' lives," Professor Xiao Fang, who specializes in Chinese folklore at Beijing Normal University, told METRO.