A full-page ad opposing pregnant women from the Chinese mainland giving birth in Hong Kong was published by a local newspaper on Feb 1, triggering a hot debate online, New Express Daily reported Friday.

A newspaper in Hong Kong ran a full-page ad on Feb 1 opposing pregnant women from the Chinese mainland giving birth in Hong Kong. [Photo/Sino Weibo]

The ad is reported to be co-funded by Internet users in Hong Kong, who have set up a group on Facebook to oppose pregnant women from the Chinese mainland going to Hong Kong to give birth.

The ad shows a picture of a locust crawling on top of Hong Kong's Lion Mountain with the headline: Are you willing to see Hong Kong spending HK$1 million every 18 minutes to bring up children whose parents are not from Hong Kong?

The ad also asks the government to amend legislation to stop the unlimited flow of pregnant women from the Chinese mainland.

After the ad came out, some Hong Kong netizens supported it, saying it is not excluding outsiders. But some netizens from the Chinese mainland expressed anger, saying it's discrimination against people from the mainland.

About women from the Chinese mainland giving birth in Hong Kong, an online poll showed that 60 percent understand Hong Kong people's attitudes toward it and 20 percent say they could not understand: "Some Hong Kong people lack tolerance."

Some women from the Chinese mainland are eager to have their babies in Hong Kong because it would entitle their children to rights of residence and education.

Babies born by mainland mothers in Hong Kong numbered 620 in 2001, and the figure jumped to 32,000 in 2010, accounting for almost 40 percent of all births in Hong Kong.

The sharp increase brought a large burden to local hospitals.