Some 180,000 babies are expected to be born in Shanghai in 2012, the Chinese Year of Dragon, the highest in 11 years.
The obstetrics department of Shanghai's maternal and child care service centre has been crowded with pregnant women and their families.
"I would like to give birth to a baby in the Year of Dragon, and it is for good luck," said Xue Huina, a pregnant woman.
According to figures of local hospitals, the fertility rate has been increasing since 2000, and a baby boom is expected in the auspicious Year of Dragon.
"It is a traditional concept that it's lucky to have children in the Year of Dragon, and 2012 will be a peak year of fertility as couples born in the 1980s have come of child-bearing age. So newborns will be relatively more than in previous years," said Zhang Xiaozhuang, an obstetric doctor from Songjiang Maternal and Child Care Service Centre.
"In fact, child-bearing is a natural process, and I hope couples will not crowd themselves into the dragon year birth wagon," added Doctor Zhang.
Doctors caution that the birth peak will lead to a strain of hospital resource, and also difficulties in schooling and employment.
APTN