Year of Golden Pig to trigger baby boom in China

BEIJING: China is bracing for a 'mini' baby boom in 2007 as many young Chinese couples want to have an offspring during the auspicious 'Year of the Golden Pig', which comes only once in 60 years.

More members of the generation born under the mandatory 'one-child' per couple family policy have reached the age of marriage and child-bearing, family planning officials say.

A mixture of tradition and superstition means that 2007 will witness a mini baby boom in the world's most populous nation, the officials say.

Xu Wen, a young woman in Shanghai, became pregnant a few months ago and is just one of the millions of Chinese parents who 'succumbed' to the belief that a 2007 baby would be showered with good fortune, the official media reported.

The pig is one of the 12 animals on the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac, which follows the lunar calendar.

According to Chinese astrology, people born in Pig Years are polite, honest, hardworking and loyal.

Babies born in the 'year of the Golden Pig' are believed to have good fortune and will lead a comfortable and wealthy life.

"The old folks in my family said the Golden Pig will bring luck and blessings to my child," Xu said.

"2007 is the year of 'Jin', meaning gold, according to the rotation of five elements of gold, wood, fire, water and earth," Yu Yue, an expert on Chinese folk culture asserted.

"The pig, as a major livestock, has been a symbol of wealth and abundance in China since ancient times," Yu explained.

According to forecasts by the Shanghai population and family planning committee, the booming city will see over 137,000 babies born in 2007, almost double the number in 2006, Xinhua news agency reported from the eastern metropolis.

Family planning officials in Beijing have also forecast that the Chinese capital could see 150,000 babies born in 2007, compared to 129,000 last year.

The boom has begun to put strains on hospitals in major cities.

The Shanghai Punan Obstetrics and Gynaecology Hospital is packed with women coming for health checks in preparation of pregnancy. Other visitors are already in the final stages of pregnancy, waiting in long queues for routine pre-natal tests.

The Haidian Obstetrics and Gynaecology Hospital Beijing has received an average of 3,000 patients in January, far exceeding the hospital's capacity.

Maternity doctors in the cities of Harbin, Taiyuan, Fuzhou and Haikou have been working double shifts and struggling to find enough beds on the wards. In some hospitals, the obstetrics departments are fully booked until April.

'Yue Sao' or maternity maids, are benefitting from the boom. Soon-to-be dads and moms in Beijing have to make reservations six months before their children are due, and monthly salaries of popular maids in Shanghai have tripled to reach about $774.