Storks are busy delivering newborns in cities across China as the Year of the Horse bolts from the stable and couples try to have their child born in what they consider an auspicious year.

According to Zhu Li, matron of Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital's maternity department, more than 500 babies were born in the hospital in the first 10 days of the Year of the Horse, an increase of 30 percent on the same period last year.

"Normally about 60 babies are born in the hospital each day, but on the first working day after the Spring Festival break, the number surged to 87," Zhu said.