How does the happiness pulse jump? What pulse is the happiness pulse?

In ancient costume dramas, we often witness scenes like this: an old doctor stroking his beard, slowly announcing “Congratulations, it’s a joyous pulse.” This scene may confuse modern people, after all, “joyous pulse” is a concept unfamiliar to us. Today, let us together unveil the mysterious veil of the joyous pulse.
The pulsation of the joyous pulse is unique, as if continuous small bubbles shuttle rapidly in the blood vessels, sequentially passing through the ring finger, middle finger, and index finger, with a compact rhythm, resembling small iron beads rolling over the fingertips one by one. Li Shizhen vividly describes it in “The Comprehensive Book on Pulse Studies”: “Smooth pulse, like pearls falling continuously, fluent in movement yet returning,” emphasizing its smooth and flowing characteristics, which are fundamentally different from fast but distinguishable pulse beats.
The joyous pulse, as the name suggests, is an auspicious pulse that indicates joy, usually associated with the good news of pregnancy. When taking the pulse in Chinese medicine, the focus is mainly on the three parts of the wrist pulse at the Cun, Guan, and Chi positions. Simply put, when you relax your wrist on the table, the most prominent bone under the wrist is the pulse position. When diagnosing the pulse, if you can clearly feel a cheerful pulsation jumping through the ring finger, middle finger, and index finger, and this pulsation flows smoothly from the Cun to the Chi, then it is a manifestation of the joyous pulse. On the contrary, if the pulsation cannot be felt in the “Chi” part, it is not a sign of pregnancy.
As for predicting the gender of the fetus, ancient texts mention the saying “Left throbbing for a boy, right throbbing for a girl,” meaning that a noticeable pulsation in the left hand predicts a boy, while in the right hand hints at a girl. Another view suggests that a particularly strong pulsation at the “Cun” position may indicate a boy, otherwise, the likelihood of a girl is higher. However, these traditional beliefs are disputed in terms of accuracy, especially in the context of modern medicine.
Regarding whether pulse diagnosis can accurately determine pregnancy, Chinese pulse diagnosis, as an ancient art, can indeed diagnose various physical conditions including pregnancy through changes in the pulse. The smooth and round characteristics of the slippery pulse are often considered a typical pulse pattern of pregnancy. To ensure the accuracy of pulse diagnosis, the best time is in the early morning on an empty stomach, in a resting state, and maintaining the correct sitting or lying posture, with the arm roughly parallel to the heart, to ensure the unimpeded circulation of qi and blood.
In conclusion, despite the highly developed modern medical technology, Chinese pulse diagnosis as a traditional diagnostic method, based on its consideration of the overall balance of the body, still receives trust from many people. Understanding this process is a journey of exploration into traditional culture.