Despite a crackdown by Hong Kong authorities on the number of women from outside the territory who can give birth there each year, the numbers of mainland women traveling south to have their babies continues to rise. From the Telegraph:
The Hong Kong administration announced last month it is to limit the number of the so-called birth tourists, setting a quota of 3,400 births for non-local women per year, down from 10,000 last year.
But mainlanders are flouting the rules by arriving at emergency wards in the late stages of labour.
As well as better medical treatment, newborns receive automatic residency and are entitled to 12 years free education.
The unwanted baby boom is putting a strain on resources as well as causing public anger.
Read more about the flaring tensions between mainlanders and Hong Kongers, which reached a boiling point recently with the release of an anti-mainlander Locust Song. See also an Al Jazeera report (via CDT) about the phenomenon of mainland women traveling to Hong Kong to give birth.
