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When Chinese parents rushed to give birth in what was considered the doubly-auspicious millennium and lunar dragon year in 2000, they might not have anticipated that their "lucky babies" would face such an ordeal to get into schools.

 

Six years after the baby boom, primary schools across the country are filled to capacity. In Lanzhou, capital of Northwest China's Gansu Province, first-year enrolment numbers jumped by 10 to 30 percent.

 

Schools in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, and the southern city of Guangzhou, face similar problems and have scrambled to expand class numbers, according to a Xinhua News Agency report yesterday.

 

Many couples in the belief that babies born at the turn of the century would be blessed, which also coincided with the Chinese Year of the Dragon, chose to have babies in 2000.

 

Figures from the National Bureau of Statistics show that about 36 million babies were born that year, far higher than the 19.09 million in 1999 and 17.02 million in 2001.

 

The large number of "millennium babies" has exerted enormous pressure on schools, already facing personnel and equipment shortages.

 

The report said the Ministry of Education had taken note of the sharp increase in primary school enrolment, and would take appropriate measures.

 

Experts also warn that problems may accompany the children throughout their lives including entry to middle schools and colleges as well as finding jobs.

 

However, it seems that couples have not taken heed of the baby boom's emerging problems, as a large number plan to have babies next year, the Year of the Pig in the Chinese zodiac, which is also considered lucky.

 

About 3,000 women went to the Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital to have prenatal checks in the past three months, 600 more year-on-year.

 

Haidian Maternal and Child Health Hospital in Beijing has also seen a growing number of pregnant women since June, according to local daily The First.

 

Wang Xiaoying, a pregnant woman who was waiting for a prenatal check at Haidian hospital, said she originally had no intention of having a baby next year, but her family pressured her because of their faith in a widely-believed folk saying that 2007 would be the year of the "golden pig," the luckiest to have babies in 60 years.

 

Experts described the rush for a baby in a "lucky year" as irrational.

 

Xu Doudou, a sociologist at Fuzhou University, said couples should avoid blind faith in the so-called "golden pig" year, and consider health factors and other circumstances before they decide to have a baby.

 

(China Daily October 25, 2006)