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The fast-approaching arrival of the Year of the Sheep has sent many young couples into a frenzy to ensure that their babies are delivered before Lunar New Year’s Day on Feb. 19 for fear that their child will end up, as the old saying has it, among the “nine out of 10 sheep who will lead an unhappy life.”

Their concern comes amid a spike in births in at least three provinces. Hospitals in Liaoning, Shandong and Gansu provinces have reported sharp increases in births this year, with their facilities reaching full occupancy and medical staff working around the clock.

Several areas have seen an increase in the number of caesarean sections and abortion consultations, as parents try to take advantage of the current auspicious Year of the Horse and avoid giving birth in the less fortunate Year of the Sheep, state news media reported. While the superstitious deem “horse babies” vigorous and healthy, as Global Times explained, “sheep babies” are considered meek and “destined for slaughter rather than success.”

A jump in births has also caused a run on birth certificates in some places, essential documents for newborns to qualify for health care and legal residence.

The state news media reported in November that the Yunnan Provincial Health and Family Planning Commission had applied for 300,000 additional birth certificates, having nearly depleted its stock of 700,000 certificates for this year. In Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou Province, several hospitals reported last month that they had to stop issuing birth certificates altogether.

Nevertheless, some health experts say other factors might be in play besides the zodiac. An administrator at the Beijing United Family Hospital maternity ward ventured that the rise in year-end births might also be attributed in part to the easing of China’s one-child policy this year, which allows couples to have a second child if either parent was a single child. According to a recent article in the state-run People’s Daily, more than 800,000 eligible couples across the country had applied to have another child by the end of September.

Government officials and the state news media have tried to combat efforts to time births by publicly warning that a bulge in births during the Year of the Horse could strain the country’s resources and lead to increased competition down the road among this year’s cohort for university and job acceptances.

Last month, China Central Television, the state broadcaster, published a slide show of graphics on the microblogging service Sina Weibo attempting to dispel some of the superstitions surrounding the Year of the Sheep. The slide show drew comments from thousands of users who cited Chinese tradition as the primary reason they wanted their baby delivered earlier.

“Even though people say it’s just a superstition, you can see that this thinking has been passed down in all of China, and it’s hard to avoid feeling emotionally entangled in it,” a user who went by the name Ye posted.

According to several Chinese media accounts, the notion of misfortune associated with the zodiac sign dates back centuries, with the mistransliteration of ancient phrases related to the word “sheep.” It is also linked to the unpopular Empress Dowager Cixi in the final decades of the Qing Dynasty, who was born in the Year of the Sheep.

But contrarians argue that the sheep is a symbol of calm and dependability. According to the CCTV graphic circulated on Weibo, Chinese historical texts portrayed the sheep as embodying patience and virtue, while the ancient “I Ching,” or “Book of Changes,” equates the animal with luck and prosperity. It also listed several famous Chinese, including the Nobel laureate Mo Yan, the actor Chow Yun-fat and the actress Liu Xiaoqing, who were all born in 1955, a Sheep Year.

Cultural experts say the superstition surrounding the zodiac sign lacks scientific basis, and Gu Jun, a sociology professor at Shanghai University, called it complete nonsense, according to People’s Daily.

Liu Kuili, director general of the Chinese Folklore Association, told CCTV that “the zodiac system is only Chinese people’s way of marking the years. It doesn’t actually endow a person with certain physical characteristics. The ancients never specifically said the Horse Year is good, and the Sheep Year is bad.”

Still, with just weeks left, academic explanations have not stopped some prospective parents from doing what they can to make sure their babies are born in time. A People’s Daily poll found that of 2,000 people surveyed, 52 percent knew couples in their social circle who were avoiding having their babies born in the Year of the Sheep.

The phenomenon appears more prevalent in provincial areas than in major cities like Beijing and Shanghai, where a spokesman for the municipal Health and Family Planning Commission said in an interview that there was no unusual run on birth certificates this year, despite several hospitals in both cities reporting full occupancy.

At the Beijing Dongcheng No. 1 Maternal and Child Health Hospital one recent afternoon, many patients and visitors said that avoiding the Year of the Sheep was not part of their family-planning calculations. “What does this concept have to do with things today?” one woman said. “For a baby to be born healthy is already sufficient.”

Some even cited advantages of being born with the sign.

“When I give birth, I want my child to be born in a Sheep Year,” said a nurse at the hospital. “That way my child won’t have to face so much competition in society, and its life will be better.”