Happy Tibetan parents welcome a new incomer at the beginning of Dragon year 2012.[Photo/Chinatibetnews]

Forty-seven "Dragon babies" were born during the first six days of Lunar Dragon year in Lhasa, according to the LhasaPeople's Hospital. A boom in births accompanies the Year of the Dragon's arrival, as parents believe their children will take on the characteristics of ambition and power like the dragon.

China is bracing for a baby boom as couples look forward to new additions to their family.  Traditional beliefs say dragons prefer to live by their own rules and are successful if left to their own devices. Parents hope their children will take on the characteristics of the Chinese zodiac's fifth creature - such traits as ambition and power.

More than 36 million "millennium babies" were born in 2000 - the last Year of the Dragon. That's twice as many as in 1999 and 2001.

However, doctors in the People's Hospital in Lhasa remind that, as the number of Dragonborn children increases, many hospitals were overburdened with prenatal appointments at the end of 2011 and this would also lead to a boom in the childcare industry in the future as well.

Water-dragon Year in Tibetan Calendar

The Tibetan calendar is a lunisolar calendar, that is, the Tibetan year is composed of either 12 or 13 lunar months, each beginning and ending with a new moon. A thirteenth month is added every two or three years, so that an average Tibetan year is equal to the solar year.

The Tibetan New Year celebration in 2012 will fall on February 22, 2012-Water Dragon year.

Traditions of naming years in Tibet calendar : Each year is associated with an animal and an element, similar to the Chinese zodiac.

Animals have the following order: Hare Dragon Snake Horse Sheep Ape Bird Dog Pig Mouse Bull Tig

Elements have the following order: Fire Earth Iron Water Wood

The element-animal designations recur in cycles of 60 years (a sexagenary cycle), starting with a Wood-Mouse year. Therefore, according to the Tibetan calendar, 2012's element is water and animal is Dragon, same as Chinese lunar calendar.