China Scene: South

Concern over rise in premarital pregnancy

More than 30 percent of babies were born to mothers who got married after they were pregnant in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, last year.

Around 100,000 new arrivals were registered in 2008, a 10 percent increase on 2007, according to the city's department of population and family planning. But more than a third of the parents had only registered to marry after the mothers found out they were pregnant.