Euthanasia, also known as mercy killing or assisted suicide, refers to the practice of ending a person's life in a painless manner, often to relieve intractable suffering.

Euthanasia is illegal in China, and debate about whether to allow the practice has raged since the country's first reported mercy killing in the 1980s.

The case involved Wang Mingcheng, then aged 32, of Shaanxi province, and physician Pu Liansheng, who were convicted of the murder of Wang's mother, Xia Suwen, in1987.

Xia had been diagnosed with terminal severe liver cirrhosis and ascites. Wang pleaded with doctors that his mother be given a lethal injection.

In 1988, the National People's Congress (NPC) deputy Yan Renying called for euthanasia to be legalized in the 7th NPC.

According to a poll conducted by Shaohai Market Investigation Co Ltd in 2003, 64.8 percent of Beijing respondents believed the practice should be legal.

Chen Xingliang, a professor at the Peking University School of Law, said now is not yet the right time to legalize euthanasia in China.

"At the moment, it's hard to identify under what conditions euthanasia should be adopted," he said, adding that, once legalized, euthanasia could be abused as a means of murder.

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