The concurrence of the Year of the Golden Dragon and the year 2000 has given couples from Beijing to Boston mating fever. “This year’s a double whammy,” says Ni-Wei Chu, labor and delivery nurse director at Garfield Medical Center near Los Angeles. Her hospital, in an area with a large population of Chinese immigrants, has hired six new nurses to cope with an expected 15 percent increase in infants. Taiwan is predicting a 20 to 30 percent explosion in deliveries this year, and Singapore, 15 percent. Authorities in China have cautioned couples not to get too carried away.
Not all expectant couples are superstitious. John and Margaret, who live in Hong Kong, are expecting a baby next month. “I don’t believe in [the luck of the dragon],” says John, “but most people do, so I just follow tradition.” Their baby, however, seems to have already brought them good fortune: in the past few months, says John, he’s won $3,875 in a department-store drawing and first prize at a charity-raffle dinner. Call it the Year of the Baby and the Buck.
