TAIPEI – Even recent economic growth hasn’t changed the belief in centuries-old traditions in China. This year is the year of the Monkey, and the lucky symbol has already brought a baby boom to Shanghai even before the year has begun.
Since Jan. 1, women near full-term have flooded the Obstetrics Department of the Shanghai Number One Women and Children’s Hospital. The department now sees more than 30 pregnant women a day, compared to the normal daily average of 20.

The China-based Morning News reported that some women would even take drugs to postpone the delivery in order to give birth in the “lucky” year. In Shanghai, an average of 80,000 babies are born each year with 20,000 babies born between last February and April. This year, experts are projecting a 10% increase during the same period.

Duan Tao, Deputy Director of the Shanghai Number One Women and Children’s Hospital, said that parents’ desire to control the time of delivery has led to an artificial baby boom. Some parents even want the baby to be delivered at precisely midnight on the eve of Chinese New Year.

The Year of the Monkey doesn’t officially start until the Chinese New Year on January 22, 2004. The year 2003 was the Year of the Sheep, which was believed to be unlucky to give birth.

Translated by The Epoch Times