Ma Xiaoyi carefully puts away her son's clothes and toys, hoping she can soon fall pregnant and have a second child.

Even her five-year-old son Lin Xuan wants a brother or sister. "He often asks me when his little brother or sister will be born," said Ma, 34.

When his nursery school teacher tells the children to draw pictures for their family, Lin always writes on his work "to my would-be brother or sister".

Ma has kept every drawing. "They'll make a sweet present when the baby is old enough to read."

Ma's husband, Lin Maogeng, is a single child but she is not.

According to a change in family planning policy announced last week, urban couples like Ma and her husband Lin will soon be allowed to have two children -- as long as one of them is an only child.

Demographer Zhai Zhenwu said the new policy would make an estimated 15 million to 20 million couples eligible for a second child. It is a significant change to the country's family planning policy that has been prevalent for more than three decades.

About 50 to 60 percent of these couples are willing to have a second child, Zhai said, quoting a recent poll by National Health and Family Planning Commission.

Having grown up with an older brother, Ma believes having a sibling can help improve a child's personality and development.

"My brother is five years older than me. He was a caregiver, role model and friend when we were children." she said. "I never felt lonely, and our parents never worried about us when they were at work."

Today, Ma often risks being late for work as she has to take her son to nursery. She feels guilty when she has to work overtime and leave Lin with the nanny.

Ma, born in Dalian, a port city in northeast China's Liaoning Province, secured a job in Beijing after she graduated in journalism from university. "It's reassuring to think that my brother's family live only a few blocks away from my parents. Had I been the only child, it'd never have ccurred to me to leave my parents."

What makes Ma want another child is the heartbreak she has witnessed, of older parents who have lost their only son or daughter.

For over a decade, her job as a journalist has taken her to sites of earthquakes and other natural disasters, senior nursing homes and hospitals. Ma has witnessed the agony and helplessness of bereaved parents. It upsets her.

"Talking about two children, most people complain about the high living costs and tuition. But if you have witnessed the pains of those bereaved parents, you'd stop worrying about the burdens a second child brings."

Many of Ma's high income peers already have a second child, and have paid a fine of about 300,000 yuan. But for Ma and her husband, both government employees, to violate the family planning policy would have cost them their jobs.

Yang Zhizhu, a former teacher in Beijing, was fired after his wife gave birth to their second child in December 2009. The couple have two girls.

Yang, who taught civil law at China Youth University for Political Sciences, insisted he would safeguard his younger daughters' "right of existence" and refused to pay any fine. He is now an activist calling for the abolition of the family planning policy.

"The new policy change is far from enough to offset China's aging problem," Yang said on his Weibo.com microblogging account. "The country needs to scrap its restrictions on childbirth as soon as possible."

TOO LATE?

When Gu Xuan fell ill one night with only her 8-year-old daughter by her side, she felt lucky she could call her sister who was a 30-minute drive away.

Gu was taken to hospital for surgery and was told she could have died from a hemorrhage if she had been a few hours late.

"We must have another child," she yelled into the phone last year. Her husband was working in Tokyo. "I don't want my daughter to grow up in solitude, with no one around to give her help."

She insisted her husband return to Beijing. He did earlier this year. But at 41, Gu suffers from anemia and severe backache. She doubts she can live through the pain of childbirth and have a healthy baby.

"The policy change has come too late for me. If I was 30-something, I'd not hesitate at all," she said.

The news of the policy change has been praised by many people in their 20s and 30s. Women of Gu's age, however, have mixed feelings. In addition to age and health considerations, some fear they may have to give up their jobs to bring up another baby. Less income plus higher expenses makes them feel insecure. In cities like Beijing, many worry a bigger family means a bigger home, but house prices are beyond the affordability of average wage-earners.

Other worries include poor air quality, food safety and academic pressure in a society where schoolchildren spend most of their spare time attending cram classes hoping to stand out among their peers.

As a result, the opportunity to have a second child may not become a reality.

Demographers are not anticipating an influx of newborn babies at a time when young couples prefer smaller families.

"More babies may be born in the first four to five years, but the birth rate is likely to drop again soon after that," said Zhai Zhenwu, a demographer with Beijing-based Renmin University of China.

The country's average fertility rate is 1.5 births per woman. According to internationally accepted standards, the newborn population is not sufficient to offset aging and the working population will shrink when the fertility rate is lower than 2.1 births per woman.

According to Zhai, the fertility rate is unlikely to top 2 births per woman even after the new policy takes effect, which will hopefully be next year.

Others are even more agitated.

"In 2010, China's fertility rate was only 1.18 births per woman. It is high time for the country to scrap its one-child policy," said doctor-turned demographer Yi Fuxian.

He said the official fertility rate for last year was also exaggerated, indicating it was lower than 1.5 births per woman.

Yi, author of Big Country in an Empty Nest, a book that criticizes the family planning policy, has been calling for an end to birth limits for a decade, citing the low fertility rate, shrinking working population and rapidly aging society.

China has the largest senior population in the world, with 194 million people at or above the age of 60 at the end of last year, according to the China National Committee on Aging.

This age group is expected to grow to 243 million by 2020 and by 2050, one third of the Chinese population will be aged over 60.

"It's not enough to end the one-child policy," said Yi on his Weibo.com microblog. "The government should encourage young couples to have more children."On his microblog, Yi quoted a letter from a young man who is seriously ill with uremia, a condition that results from kidney disease. "My mother is a peasant and my father is a rural school teacher. I am their only child," the letter said.　　

When he fell ill three years ago, his family almost fell apart. "My mother was so upset that she suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and has been paralyzed ever since. My father is debt-laden and on the verge of breaking down."

The man, who did not give his name, said he felt extremely sorry for his parents. "Who will take care of them and keep them company after I die? If I had a brother or sister, I'd feel more relieved even if I have to die."