Why Mothers Travel Abroad to Have Their Babies
NBA star Yao Ming was nicknamed "The Great Wall of Yao" for his towering height at 229 cm. He married Ye Li, a member of the Chinese national basketball team, in 2007, but the two had to live apart due to Yao's U.S. basketball career, the Chosun Ilbo reported. When he took his pregnant wife to the U.S. in 2010, Chinese media accused him of having a so-called "anchor baby" who automatically gets U.S. citizenship by being born there. Ye gave birth to a baby girl in the U.S. two months later, and millions of Yao's fans were incensed. China's Shenzhen region has a thriving business helping expecting mothers travel to Hong Kong to have their baby there. It costs 100,000 yuan. Out of 95,000 babies who were born in Hong Kong in 2011, 44,000 were apparently anchor babies from mothers in China, most of them from wealthy and powerful families. By having a baby in Hong Kong, Chinese women can avoid punitive measures against having more than one child and the baby gets a coveted Hong Kong passport, allowing him or her to travel to some 120 countries without a visa. In the 19th century, the
Jun 4, 2013