Posted by: Captain Haddock February 23, 2007
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He he ...nice one. Time to cancel your next vacation plans and head to to China to get cured of the darned addiction, huh?! :P
Talking about China, lots of babies this year:
Source: - http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=8681045
Chinese babies
The golden pig cohort
Feb 8th 2007 | BEIJING
From The Economist print edition
As China enters an auspicious year, the birth rate is expected to soar
HOSPITALS across China are bracing themselves for what is expected to be a surge of babies born in the year of the pig, which starts on February 18th. Pig years, which occur every 12 years, are considered auspicious. But the coming one, or so many believe, will be especially fortunate since it is not just a pig but a golden pig, the first in 60 or even 600 years, depending on which astrologer one consults.
China's state-owned media have carried numerous stories of gynaecologists struggling to cope with unusual numbers of expectant women. Life Times, a weekly newspaper, quoted an official as saying that Beijing alone could see 170,000 births this year, 50,000 more than in 2006 (quite an auspicious year itself). The increase is partly the result of a mini-baby boom in the 1980s, which was in turn caused by a boom two decades earlier. But officials say the golden pig has much to answer for.
In recent years, Hong Kong has become a magnet for urban Chinese women trying to evade China's strict one-child policy and enjoy better standards of hospital care (often free since many leave without paying their bills). But those hoping for a golden pig baby in Hong Kong will face difficulties. To stem the influx, Hong Kong introduced new rules on February 1st requiring mainland women who are more than seven months pregnant to prove they have a hospital booking in the territory before they can cross the border.
China's top family-planning official, Zhang Weiqing, said last month that given the current bulge in the number of people reaching childbearing age, the government would not relax its one-child policy. This will probably mean that the golden pig's impact on the birth rate will be followed by a correction once the auspicious period is over (next year is also being tipped as lucky, what with the Olympics and all).
But problems are bound to arise as the golden pig cohort reaches school age. In some parts of China, children born in 2000, the year of the dragon (also very auspicious, as suggested by the chart), are already facing stiffer than usual competition for places. In Shanghai last week, deput ies to the local legislature's advisory body called on city planners to start taking account of auspicious years when considering education demand. They also appealed to citizens to abandon superstition, but that is much less likely to be heeded.
HOSPITALS across China are bracing themselves for what is expected to be a surge of babies born in the year of the pig, which starts on February 18th. Pig years, which occur every 12 years, are considered auspicious. But the coming one, or so many believe, will be especially fortunate since it is not just a pig but a golden pig, the first in 60 or even 600 years, depending on which astrologer one consults.
China's state-owned media have carried numerous stories of gynaecologists struggling to cope with unusual numbers of expectant women. Life Times, a weekly newspaper, quoted an official as saying that Beijing alone could see 170,000 births this year, 50,000 more than in 2006 (quite an auspicious year itself). The increase is partly the result of a mini-baby boom in the 1980s, which was in turn caused by a boom two decades earlier. But officials say the golden pig has much to answer for.
In recent years, Hong Kong has become a magnet for urban Chinese women trying to evade China's strict one-child policy and enjoy better standards of hospital care (often free since many leave without paying their bills). But those hoping for a golden pig baby in Hong Kong will face difficulties. To stem the influx, Hong Kong introduced new rules on February 1st requiring mainland women who are more than seven months pregnant to prove they have a hospital booking in the territory before they can cross the border.
China's top family-planning official, Zhang Weiqing, said last month that given the current bulge in the number of people reaching childbearing age, the government would not relax its one-child policy. This will probably mean that the golden pig's impact on the birth rate will be followed by a correction once the auspicious period is over (next year is also being tipped as lucky, what with the Olympics and all).
But problems are bound to arise as the golden pig cohort reaches school age. In some parts of China, children born in 2000, the year of the dragon (also very auspicious, as suggested by the chart), are already facing stiffer than usual competition for places. In Shanghai last week, deput ies to the local legislature's advisory body called on city planners to start taking account of auspicious years when considering education demand. They also appealed to citizens to abandon superstition, but that is much less likely to be heeded.