China, a country which spends most of its time trying to control its population, is jubilant about a baby boom in the south-western province of Sichuan.
However, the birth increase does not represent a shift in the controversial one-child policy. The babies in this instance are giant pandas, one of the world's most endangered species.
Following a successful breeding programme, 13 pandas are expected to give birth in the next few months. Nine of the expectant mothers are being kept in captivity in Chengdu, Sichuan's provincial capital.
And they are getting the royal treatment, having been moved into a new air-conditioned delivery room to await the arrival of their cubs. The other four mothers-to-be are from Sichuan's Wolong Nature Reserve, a protected panda habitat.
Mr Zhang Anju, director of the Giant Panda Breeding Technology Committee of China, said yesterday the pregnancies could produce up to 20 pandas, as half the mothers could deliver twins.
Mr Li Guanghan, a panda expert in Chengdu, said the baby boom was good news for Chinese scientists and was indicative of China's leading position in the artificial fertilisation of giant pandas.
Considered a living fossil, only about 1,000 giant pandas survive in the wild and are found only in China.
Meanwhile, a panda named Daili is learning to live with three legs after undergoing an amputation in Sichuan following an attack by a wild animal three months ago.