内地赴港“生儿潮”引争议Angry HK backlash against baby boom

For a city with an ageing population, a baby boom should be good news. But the one under way in Hong Kong is the result of women travelling across the border from mainland China to give birth in the city, and it is provoking an angry backlash.

对于一个人口日益老龄化的城市而言，出现“婴儿潮”应该是个好消息。但香港眼下的“婴儿潮”是内地妇女赴港生子所致，这引发了港人的愤怒反应。

The number of babies born in the city to mainland Chinese women who were not married to Hong Kong husbands rose to 32,653 last year – more than a third of all the city’s births – and up from 620 a decade ago.

去年，配偶并非香港公民的内地妇女在港生产的婴儿数量已上升至32653个，超过了香港新生儿总数的三分之一，远高于十年前的620个。

Most mainland mothers-to-be are drawn by the prospect of permanent residency for their children, an automatic right for those born in Hong Kong, which retains a much more liberal political, legal and economic system than the mainland. There is also the added benefit of avoiding a financial penalty for breaking Beijing’s one-child policy.

大多数内地孕妇都是被孩子一旦出生在香港、便可自动获得永久居民权的前景所吸引。香港保留了比内地自由得多的政治、法律与经济制度。另外一个好处则是可以避免因违反内地的计划生育政策而被罚款。

The Hong Kong government has come under pressure from doctors at government hospitals and from Hong Kong citizens to curb the practice.

香港政府正面临来自公立医院医生与香港公民的压力，他们要求对这种做法加以限制。

A Facebook group calling itself “strongly against mainland mothers delivering children in Hong Kong” refers to such expectant women as “grasshoppers”.

在Facebook上一个名为“强烈反对内地孕妇来港产子”的群里，将这些内地孕妇称作“蝗虫”。

The issue has come to the fore as first-time home buyers in the city complain about being priced out of the property market because an influx of wealthy mainland Chinese has driven prices to records. On Monday the Hong Kong government’s education bureau told the South China Morning Post that the number of mainland-born children studying in Hong Kong’s school system had increased to 9,899 last year, more than double the figure five years ago.

这个问题之所以变得突出起来，是因为大量内地富人的涌入，将香港的房价推上了历史高 位，香港的首次购房者开始抱怨买不起房。香港政府教育局周一告诉《南华早报》(South China Morning Post)，去年，在香港各级学校学习的内地学生已增至9899个，比五年前增加了一倍多。

The increase in the number of births continues to prompt anxiety, especially in Hong Kong’s public hospitals.

在港出生婴儿数量的不断增加持续引发担忧，特别是在香港的公立医院。

“The Hong Kong medical system is beyond overheated. It will become unsafe. We say we must cap the number of deliveries,” warns Cheung Tak Hong, who heads the obstetrics and gynaecology department at the Prince of Wales public hospital in Shatin, not far from Hong Kong’s border with China.

公立的威尔斯亲王医院(Prince of Wales)妇产科主任张德康警告称：“香港医疗系统已经热得不能再热。它将变得不安全。我们认为必须控制分娩的数量。”威尔斯亲王医院位于距离香港与内地边界不远的沙田地区。

In response to the pressure, York Chow, Hong Kong’s health secretary, last month announced the government would centralise the registration of bookings by all prospective mothers who were not residents of the city and tighten checks to ensure the pregnancies were uncomplicated.

作为对上述压力的回应，香港食物及卫生局局长周一岳(York Chow)上月宣布，政府将集中管理所有非港籍孕妇的预约申请，并严加检查以确保妊娠无并发症。

Many observers see this as the first step towards an eventual cap on the number of spaces available in private hospitals to mainland mothers-to-be.

许多观察人士认为，这是走向最终限制私立医院接受内地孕妇数量的第一步。

Private hospitals have been criticised for using agents to solicit more business from across the border.

私立医院一直因利用中介从内地招揽生意而受到指责。

At the privately owned Baptist Hospital a sign reads: “Strictly prohibit agent to promote business.” Underneath it, Ma Sheung Fong, an agent who arranges for mainland mothers to give birth in Hong Kong hospitals, is boasting about how good business is.

私立医院浸信会医院(Baptist Hospital)的一个告示牌上写着：“严禁中介拉拢生意。”在告示牌下面，一名安排内地孕妇在香港医院分娩的中介Ma Sheung Fong正在吹嘘生意有多么好。

Ma is from Hunan and the agency she runs – Hong Kong Good Baby – typically charges US$2,200 to reserve a bed, pay for a week’s medical checks and process the documentation needed for permanent residency. In 2007 Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority instituted a maternity package fee of HK$39,000 (US$5,000) for mainland women wanting to give birth in Hong Kong, but that has not reduced the number of women seeking residency for their children in the city.

Ma来自湖南，她经营的中介公司Hong Kong Good Baby一般收取2200美元的费用，帮助预订床位、支付一周的医疗检查费用以及处理申请永久居民身份所需要的文件。2007年，香港医院管理局 (Hospital Authority)制定了一项针对来港分娩的内地孕妇的一揽子费用3.9万港元（合5000美元），但这并未减少为孩子寻求香港居民身份的准妈妈的数 量。

Ahead of the government’s announcement last month, a number of public hospitals said they would no longer take bookings from pregnant mainland women for the foreseeable future.

在政府上月发布公告前，许多公立医院表示，他们在可预见的未来将不再接受内地孕妇的分娩预约。

Dr Cheung at Prince of Wales hospital – though alarmed by the coachloads of mothers being ferried across the border into Hong Kong by agents – says he understands the rationale. “It’s parents trying to give their children a better chance,” he says.

尽管被中介从内地运到香港的一车车的孕妇吓了一跳，但威尔斯亲王医院的张德康表示，他理解她们为何这样做。他说：“这是做父母的在努力给孩子一个更好的机会。”