Thursday, January 6, 2005

1.3 billion Chinese Major news in all Chinese newspapers today: The 1.3 billionth Chinese was born early this morning. The baby boy who got the honour was born right after midnight in Beijing. Update: during my lunchbreak I was running on the treadmill while watching the Beijing TV News. There they showed the actual birth of the baby! The whole thing seemed to be a set up: at 00:02, so right after the beginning of Jan. 6, the baby was born. It looked like a ceasarian as the woman was laying quietly when the nurse got the baby, so they probably waited until midnight to get the baby. The baby was first held up in the air to show it to the TV audience, and only then given to the mother. It seemed like there was no navel-string, or it was cut before the baby was shown to the camera's. I suspect that the parents were chosen from among many other couples, to make sure they would fit certain criteria (happily married, a good background, delivering a healthy baby etc.). 10:33:41 AM    comment []