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People: Man donates record amount of blood in 18 years

Xu Jinyuan has donated his blood to help people in need more than 200 times in the past 18 years. Xu, 61, a retired pyroelectricity engineer in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, first donated blood in 2000. Then he began to donate regularly - twice every six months, the minimum interval under the Blood Donation Law. Since 2004, Xu has been donating blood platelets after learning that this approach is more helpful to patients with blood diseases. He donates platelets regularly - once every 14 days, the minimum interval allowed. "Over the past 18 years, the volume of blood donated by Xu has amounted to 250,000 milliliters, nearly 50 times what's in an average human body," said Wang Jun, an official at Harbin Blood Center. "He holds the record in the city."