China's first test-tube baby using frozen egg, frozen sperm and frozen embryo was born at the Third Hospital Affiliated with Peking University.

The baby boy was about 3.09 kilograms in weight and 49 centimeters in height when born and all medical checks, including chromosome check, show the baby is in normal condition, the hospital declared on Thursday.

The hospital said this is the first "three-frozen" test-tube baby born in China and the second case in the world, according to Beijing Daily.

The operation for an infertile couple includes freezing human eggs, freezing sperm, thawing the eggs after 17 months, fertilizing them with sperm, freezing the embryo, thawing it and then implanting it into the woman patient's body.

The research of egg freezing is still in an initial stage, but crucial to the assistant reproduction technology, said Chen Gui'an, a professor with the hospital.

Egg freezing is beneficiary to more than the infertile. The young women suffering from cancers could keep reproduction capacity by saving and freezing their eggs before receiving radiotherapy and chemotherapy, Chen said.

(Xinhua News Agency February 13, 2006)