英闻天下——481 Shortage of Body Donors in China

 　　In Beijing Changqingyuan cemetery 1, there is a special monument engraved 2 with more than 1,000 names. Groups of medical teachers and students were there to pay their respects to "the silent teachers", people who have donated their bodies to medical research.

 
　　Zhangyuan Mingfei, a student from the medical department of Beijing University, says:
 
　　"What we have learned from the 'silent teachers' can help us to cure more patients. It's the legacy 3 that they have left in the world."
 
　　Inspired by these selfless people, medical student Wang Xu says he also want to donate his body to science to help others.
 
　　"As a medical student, I hope I can do the same thing to sacrifice myself and save more people."
 
　　According to the Beijing Red Cross, since starting the body donation registry in 1999, more than 15-thousand Beijing residents have registered to donate their bodies after they pass away, and 7,933 people have had their requests notarized. Only 1,407 people have completed donations. In 2012, 177 people in Beijing donated their bodies to medical science.
 
　　Wang Wei, head of the Body Donation Center at the Capital University of Medical Sciences, says that there is still a shortage of donors 5.
 
　　"According to the teaching guidance, it's appropriate that four students can learn from one body. Now we are desperately 6 in need of more. We have to arrange 10 or more students to learn from one body."
 
　　Zhang Xinyu, a medical student at the medical department of Peking University, says donated bodies are very helpful for their studies.
 
　　"The more bodies we see, the more human structure we can learn. It will help us a lot when we perform surgeries in the future."
 
　　Despite the growing willingness of people to donate their bodies after they die, many Chinese still cling to the traditional practice of ground burials and are against the idea of donating one's body to medical science. Many consider it disrespectful to the deceased.
 
　　What's worse, the complex procedure is another barrier for people who want to donate their bodies after they pass away. The donor 4 has to get a family member to sign the donation application and have it notarized before the application is valid 7. But still the donation centers cannot get a body if the family members change their minds after the donor's death.
 
　　Lv Shijie, Deputy Director of Beijing Red Cross, says legislation is needed regarding body donations.
 
　　"Now we only have a regulation made in 1999, according to which body donation procedures are very complex. But if we have a law, we only need the agreement of the donors."
 
　　Lv says the government is taking measures to do surveys and research. A law regarding body donations will be issued in the near future.
 
　　For CRI, I'm Wang Xiao.