Yang Xia and her husband Xian Ziwen became the first parents to give birth to a second child after having lost their only child in the 8.0-magnitude earthquake that devastated parts of southwest China last year, the Chengdu Evening News said.

The healthy 3.6 kilogramme (7.9 pound) boy was born on Saturday, nearly nine months after his 19-year-old older sister died at a middle school in quake-hit Sichuan province, the report said.

The birth comes after the Sichuan legislature in July last year exempted families who lost their only child in the earthquake from China's "one child" population control laws, it said.

"It's all like a dream for me," Xinhua news agency quoted the 40-year-old mother, as saying.

Her daughter was preparing for a university career when the earthquake struck and killed her, it said.

The family is one of more than 8,000 families in Sichuan who lost their only child to the earthquake, which left up to 88,000 people dead or missing, it said.

China's "one child" family planning policy restricts most couples from having more than baby in an effort to keep population growth in the world's most populous nation in check.

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