Illustration: Lu Ting/GT

"It is almost impossible to find an orphan whose zodiac sign satisfies the adopting family."

There are some 1,000 families in Shanghai waiting to adopt babies, with an increase of about 200 families every year. However, some families have strict requirements about the children they want to adopt, requesting that babies' Western and Chinese zodiac signs are compatible with those of family members, the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau told the Shanghai Morning Post.