Four babies were born in Hong Kong’s public hospitals in the first two hours of New Year’s Day, including an infant boy who was welcomed into the world a week past his due date.
The first baby in Hong Kong to be born in 2025 was a boy at Prince of Wales Hospital in Sha Tin at seven minutes past midnight, weighing 3.375kg (7.44lbs). The same hospital delivered an infant girl weighing 2.84kg at 1.59am.
Over at Princess Margaret Hospital in Kwai Chung, Jason Lung was born 12 minutes after midnight on Wednesday, weighing 3.56kg.
His parents said Jason, their first child, was originally expected to be born on December 23 of last year, but arrived a week later after labour difficulties prompted his mother to have a caesarean section.
The infant boy is among the last of the city’s “dragon babies” before the Year of the Snake starts on January 29. The dragon is the fifth animal in the Chinese zodiac, with “Lung” also being a word for the mythical creature in Chinese.
Asked what his new parents wished for their son, his mother said: “Childhood is quite an important phase in a child’s life … happiness is everything.”
