Superstition means fewer babies in Year of the Sheep

Despite that, people are more likely to associate sheep with the implied meaning as weak, obedient, and foolish. Those born in the Year of the Sheep are usually considered to be soft followers rather than strong leaders.

According to the Guangzhou Daily, the view of "Shi yang jiu bu quan" was never heard of before the period of Xianfeng Emperor of the Qing Dynasty. It might have been a rumor started to overthrow the reign of the Dowager Empress Cixi (1835-1908) in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Cixi and other high-ranking officials of late Qing Dynasty, like Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang. were born in the Year of the Sheep. People hated the corrupt Qing and their officials, so they started saying those born in that year had bad luck.

Leading by this superstitious social trend, tens of thousands of mothers across China are keen to have a child in the auspicious Year of the Horse, rather than in the "unlucky" Year of the Sheep that will start on Feb 19, 2015.

As a result, hospitals, especially in metropolises like Beijing and Shanghai, reported wild overcrowding with pregnant women, making it extremely difficult for them to find a place to give birth.

The number of babies born so far in 2014 has increased nearly 30 percent compared to the same period in 2013, Ba Hua, professor of obstetrics and gynecology with People's Hospital of Liaoning province, told Liaoning Daily.

Weihai Evening News had a similar report that, through October of this year, more than 240 babies were born each month at People's Hospital in Rongcheng city, which is double the number of that in 2013, overworking the medical staff.

Lanzhou is going to embrace a baby boom at the end of 2014, but the wards have already been overcrowded of pregnant women, Lanzhou Morning Post reported.

Journalist from Qi Lu Evening News surveyed a random sampling recently at Maternal and Child Health Hospital and Mining Bureau Hospital in Zaozhuang city of East China's Shangdong province. It showed that 18 out of 25 expectant mothers would like to have their child by cesarean delivery before the arrival of the Year of the Sheep.

Similar news reports can also be easily found in other cities around the country.