Year of the Horse ends with baby boom

AS THE Chinese prepare to welcome the Year of the Goat in just a few weeks, maternity hospitals throughout the country are packed with women waiting to have their babies born before Jan 31, the last day of the Year of the Horse.  

For weeks, the maternity ward of the Shanxi Provincial People’s Hospital in Taiyuan has been so full that one has to make a reservation for a bed days before the baby is due.