More women in China are choosing Caesarean section over natural birth. Liu Zhihua finds out the reasons as well as the pros and cons.

Wu Liujia, a publicity staff member with Xin-qiao Hospital in Chongqing, has recently been busy rejecting pleas from friends and relatives. They requested to have Caesarean section before Sept 1, so that their children will be able to go to school one year earlier. "I tried my best to persuade them to drop the idea," Wu says. "C-section is not as good as natural birth, both for babies and mothers." Wu has personal experience. She had C-section in 2010, and regretted it. "When my baby was born, it seemed to be very immature. I also took a longer time to recover from labor (compared to those who chose natural birth)," Wu says.

But not everyone feels the same as Wu about C-sections.