Body donors honored with solemn rites
Source: Xinhua |
April 3, 2010, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
MORE than 200 medical students gathered on a beach in northeast China's port city of Dalian yesterday to place white chrysanthemums at a heart-shaped monument to honor deceased residents who donated their bodies to scientific researches.
The students stood in silent tribute to remember and express gratitude to the deceased for their selfless act, ahead of China's traditional Qingming Festival which falls on Monday.
"Their donations have sustained the development of life sciences," said Huang Min, deputy principal at Dalian Medical University. "They have proven to be the best teachers for medical students who learn anatomy, respect for life and gratitude."
Yesterday's ceremony, co-sponsored by the university and the city's Red Cross, was also attended by more than 160 relatives of organ donors and at least 50 who have agreed to donate their bodies when they die.
Zhang Zhenhui, 91, from Dalian, is one of China's oldest donors. She reached an agreement with the Red Cross in 2001 after donating her husband's body on his request.
"This is the a way we repay society," she said.
The Dalian Red Cross received its first body donation in 1996. To date, 86 citizens had given their bodies to science, said Qiao Shanchun, executive deputy director of the Dalian Red Cross.
Another 656 had signed donation agreements, he said.
Until 10 years ago, the Chinese public considered body donation unacceptable because it ran counter to the traditional belief that "wholeness of the body brings peace to the soul."
In Beijing, 942 bodies have been donated over the past decade.
City authorities established a monument for these people in a cemetery in the northern suburbs in 2003.
The students stood in silent tribute to remember and express gratitude to the deceased for their selfless act, ahead of China's traditional Qingming Festival which falls on Monday.
"Their donations have sustained the development of life sciences," said Huang Min, deputy principal at Dalian Medical University. "They have proven to be the best teachers for medical students who learn anatomy, respect for life and gratitude."
Yesterday's ceremony, co-sponsored by the university and the city's Red Cross, was also attended by more than 160 relatives of organ donors and at least 50 who have agreed to donate their bodies when they die.
Zhang Zhenhui, 91, from Dalian, is one of China's oldest donors. She reached an agreement with the Red Cross in 2001 after donating her husband's body on his request.
"This is the a way we repay society," she said.
The Dalian Red Cross received its first body donation in 1996. To date, 86 citizens had given their bodies to science, said Qiao Shanchun, executive deputy director of the Dalian Red Cross.
Another 656 had signed donation agreements, he said.
Until 10 years ago, the Chinese public considered body donation unacceptable because it ran counter to the traditional belief that "wholeness of the body brings peace to the soul."
In Beijing, 942 bodies have been donated over the past decade.
City authorities established a monument for these people in a cemetery in the northern suburbs in 2003.
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