Chongqing couple's wedding salutes organ donors

There was a special wedding in Chongqing Organ Donation Memorial Park on Sunday.

Yi Zecheng, 75, and his wife Chen Maoxiu, 65 — both dedicated volunteers in the promotion of organ donation — drew attention to the cause.

They were married in 2017 but never threw a wedding party. So, earlier this year, Yi decided to fill the memory gap. After some thought about the wedding location, the couple decided to host the event at the memorial park in Bishan district, which honors 4,044 local organ donors.

Over the past few years, organ donation has played a significant role in the couple's life. They have encouraged more than 1,500 people to register for the organ donation project.

"We hope those great souls in the memorial park can witness our special day," Chen said. "We also want to encourage more people to participate in this noble cause."

China made voluntary donations the only legitimate source of organs for transplantation after it banned the use of organs from executed prisoners in January 2015. To date, it has over 3 million registered donors. About 33,000 people nationwide have donated their organs after death. More than 99,000 individual organs have been donated so far, according to the China Organ Donation Administrative Center.

The number of organ transplant surgeries performed annually in China is the second-highest in the world, after the United States.

Like many other countries, China faces a shortage of donated organs. Every year, about 300,000 patients with terminal illnesses need transplants, but only about 20,000 surgeries are done.