He is called Grandpa Yin Ming by his Nanjing neighborhood, and
at 83 years old, he still spends his days making house calls and
organizing events in his community in the capital of Jiangsu, one of the wealthiest and ageing
province in China.
Yin is one of the many in the city who wishes to donate his last
and most precious possession after death his own body to medical
research.
Yin is a part of the Volunteers Association for Reliquiae
Donation, a 10-year-old group affiliated with the Nanjing Red
Cross.
In 1996, a group of retired residents gathered for an ordinary
after-meal chatting session. One man said he read that China's
progress in medical science was suffering, and lagging behind that
of developed countries, because there was a corpse resource
shortage.
Meanwhile, more than 40,000 corpses are buried or cremated
everyday. Because so few people are willing to donate their
corneas, millions of the country's visually impaired people usually
have no hope for retaining their ability to detect light.
This group delivered a public announcement to the local
newspaper the next day, declaring their resolution of reliquiae
donation and calling on more people to join them in their
cause.
Their decision was warmly welcomed from the society, as 500
volunteers joined them within three months.
Among them, two were members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences,
150 are intellectuals and retired workers, and there are 80
couples. Their age span ranged from 20 to 87 at that time.
A decade later, the team has greatly expanded. More than 4,000
people have joined the group during those 10 years and 310 of them
have had their bodies donated after death.
Unlike practices adopted by their counterparts in other cities,
corpse donors in Nanjing are told on the first day that they will
receive no compensation in return. It is reported that their
counterparts in other cities can enjoy a certain amount of
allowance and also free medical check-ups.
"Attention from the whole society is certainly good. But even
though we cannot enjoy those privileges, we work with equal
enthusiasm," said Yin, who joined the association since its
establishment and is now secretary of the association.
Leaders with the China Red Cross Association praised Nanjing
Voluntary Reliquiae Donation Association as the best-performing one
among similar associations across the country in 2000.
To date, Nanjing Medical College and Nanjing Railway Medical
College are the two institutes that receive the donations.
The medical students come to visit the elderly volunteers
several times a year, chatting with them and checking in on their
health.
"I am really moved by their decisions, which have enormously
benefited the society," said Wang Jun, a senior medical student in
Nanjing Medical College.
According to Liu Xia, vice-president of the Nanjing Branch of
the Red Cross Association, hundreds of people have received organ
transplants from them.
But problems still exist as the work goes on, said Liu.
Hurdles of family
The road to the association's mission is far from smooth, and
misunderstanding comes from everywhere, including the volunteers'
own children.
The Nanjing Red Cross Branch requires consent from the
volunteers' relatives to make every offer of donation valid.
"My daughter wouldn't sign her name on my resolution paper for
my body donation, as she was afraid of people scolding her of being
not filial," said Yin.
It is a traditional virtue in China that the descendents hold a
grand funeral ceremony for their decreased relatives.
It took the elderly man several days to persuade his
daughter.
"To obey your father's wishes and let him contribute his last
possession to society is the best thing you can do to me," Yin told
her.
Yin fought in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression
(1937-1945) and risked his life several times on the
battlefields.
"I don't fear death at all. What's most important is that you
should die for the benefit of the society," said Yin.
Eventually, Yin's daughter agreed. And moved by her father's
spirit, she and her husband also decided to donate their corpses to
medical institutes.
It was reported that in Shanghai people who decided to donate
their own bodies do not need to obtain approval from their family
members. But Nanjing still holds that the approval from family
members are necessary.
"To avoid future dispute, approvals from family members are very
necessary," said Liu Xia.
In addition to the children's incorporation, more obstacles come
when the group goes to an unfamiliar community to rally more
volunteers.
"People just feel so queer that some strangers talked with them
about corpse donation. And sometimes the children may scold us
severely and drive us away," said Yin.
But Yin said that he was moved there were so many people who
decided from the bottom of their hearts to contribute
themselves.
Xie Qiuping, 92, come back in 2005 from the United States where
his daughter lived, just to realize his wish of the final
donation.
Shortage of funds
A lack of funding is still a big problem for the group.
Currently, the association has a 40,000 yuan (US$5,000) for
operating every year, 10,000 yuan (US$1,250) from each of the two
medical colleges, and 20,000 yuan (US$25,000) from Nanjing
municipal government.
"That is far from enough. We donated money to maintain the
running of the association," Yin said, saying he personally donated
30,000 yuan (US$3,750) over the years.
Financial donations from the private sectors and mainly those
from the group's members are the main resources for the
association.
The money is mainly for helping low-income donors arrange
activities and hold lectures on health for the public.
Regulating the pro-donation process has also been the group's
concern.
In 2000, an organ exhibition was held in Japan, and it was said
to have purchased corpses and organs from medical colleges in
Nanjing to furnish the display.
Though there was no repercussion for the incident, several
donors were provoked and they asked to withdraw their decision of
donation.
"The corpse cannot enjoy dignity after being donated and they
are used for commercial ends. We cannot accept this," said a donor,
surnamed Huang.
The Ministry of Health has recently ruled that any sale of human
organs are strictly prohibited in the country.
"So, we hope the country will pay more attention to this kind of
regulation, protecting the motivation of our donors and let the
whole society benefit from our donations," said Yin.
(China Daily April 8, 2006)