Dong Deyu, a man who has a rare type of blood, has donated his blood to help people in need for more than a decade.

A native of Hefei, Anhui province, Dong, 37, first donated blood in 2005, when he worked in a trading company in Shanghai.

“I learned about blood donation from my cousin who is a nurse, which made me want to help save people by donating my blood,” Dong said, according to an article of Visual China Group.

The first time, Dong donated 200 milliliters of blood in a blood donation center.

Although Dong’s family protested his decision, saying blood donation might harm his health, that did not change his mind.

Six months later, Dong learned at a blood collection center that he has Type O, Rh-negative blood, which is also known as “panda blood” in China as only three in one thousand people have such a blood type and Rh factor.

Therefore, Dong decided to donate more blood. And he shared his experiences and knowledge about blood donation with people around him.

Since 2008, Dong started donating platelet after learning that this approach would be more conducive to patients in need of blood. He donates on a regular basis – once every 14 days, the minimum interval allowed.

He also enrolled himself in the national data base of donators of hemopoietic stem cells, in hope of saving patients with blood diseases one day.

For the past 12 years, Dong has donated whole blood of 3,600ml in total and palate for 56 times.

Influenced by him, some relatives and friends of his also began donating blood regularly.

A survey released on Monday found that transgender people are in high need of medical services, with 62 percent having a demand for hormone therapies, and 51 percent having a demand for gender reassignment treatment.

Both demands are not fully satisfied, the report said. Only 6 percent of respondents expressed satisfaction with the current domestic situation for provision of and access to hormone therapy, and just 2 percent thought that there were enough medical resources for sex reassignment surgeries.

The Chinese Transgender Population General Survey Report was compiled by the Beijing LGBT Center and Peking University’s Sociology Department, with help from the UN Development Programme and the Dutch embassy.

“The medical resources are now far from adequate,” said Kelly Kiseki, the transgender program manager at Beijing LGBT Center.

Transgender people also experience persistent neglect, verbal abuse, physical beatings and other forms of violence from their family and at school, work and public spaces, according to the report.

“The discrimination from work is a reason that a relatively large number of transgender respondents earn a low income,” Xin said. The report shows 33.5 percent reported an after-tax annual income of less than 25,000 yuan ($3,770).

James Yang, the Beijing LGBTI in Asia program officer from UN Development Programme, said people in the transgender community are caught in a vicious cycle.

“The discrimination and low income make it difficult for them to get proper medical treatment, which to some degree causes the high rates of self-harm and suicide,” he added.

Almost half of transgender people in China have contemplated suicide, with many going on to attempt to take their own life, according to a survey released on Monday.

The report did not include an estimate of the number of transgender people in China, but a survey of 2,060 people showed 46.2 percent have considered suicide, and 12.7 percent had survived a suicide attempt.

The report also found 44.5 percent have thought about self-mutilation as a result of being transgender and 21.2 percent had exhibited some level of self-mutilating behavior.

Xin Ying, director of the Beijing LGBT Center, an NGO set up in 2008, said the transgender group have long been in an awkward position in the society.

“They are often confronted with serious mental problems,” Xin said.

The chief designer of China’s first generation of nuclear submarines rose to national prominence again recently when he was greeted by President Xi Jinping at a recent ceremony.

Huang Xuhua, 93, director emeritus of the Nuclear Submarine Institute of China Shipbuilding Industry Corp, led research and development on the nation’s first nuclear submarines – the Type 09I nuclear-powered attack submarine and the Type 09II nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine – from the 1950s to the 1980s.

His name remained classified until 1987 when a magazine in Shanghai was allowed to publish a report about him using only his family name – Huang.

As the Chinese Navy has gradually declassified its first-generation nuclear subs, the stories of Huang and his fellow designers have become widely known and their reputations have been burnished. Huang is known as the “father” of China’s nuclear submarines.

On Friday, in a ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, the title of National Model for Virtue was conferred on Huang, and he spoke on behalf of himself and 57 other recipients honored for their contributions in many fields. At a group photo session before the ceremony, organizers arranged for the elderly Huang to stand behind Xi, but Xi invited Huang to sit next to him and personally moved the chair in front of Huang to make way for the distinguished researcher to come forward.

The move was captured by the China Central Television and was shown in the prime news slot that day. Xi’s consideration for elderly people and his esteem for science and technology researchers made headlines after the broadcast.

“I was really surprised and excited when the president invited me to sit next to him. I didn’t know what I should say,” Huang was quoted as saying in a news release from China Shipbuilding Industry Corp. “He then asked me how was I doing and if the event tired me. He also recognized our work and told me to keep healthy.”

Huang said he was deeply moved by Xi’s respect for researchers and for the elderly. He said the president seemed “very familiar” with the naval hardware industry.

Dedicating his life to the country’s nuclear submarine fleet, Huang was often too busy to take care of his family. So it was virtually his wife alone who raised their three daughters, the release said.

Even at the age of 93, Huang comes every weekday morning to his office at the submarine institute in Wuhan, Hubei province, to review and compile records of his know-how and experience. He also counsels young researchers on technical issues.

The first nuclear-powered attack submarine designed by Huang and his colleagues – a Type 09I – has been decommissioned after more than 40 years of service and is now on display at the Chinese Navy Museum in Qingdao, Shandong province.

President Xi Jinping called for continuous and resolute efforts to deepen overall reform as the top reform agency convened on Monday for the first time since the Party’s national congress established reform procedures in multiple areas.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, set down requirements while presiding over the first meeting of the 19th Central Leading Group for Deepening Overall Reform. The group is headed by Xi.

During the meeting, Xi stressed that great achievements have been reached in deepening reform, and that there remains huge potential for further deepening of reform.

Members of the leading group, including Li Keqiang, Zhang Gaoli, Wang Yang and Wang Huning, attended the conference.

The president required local authorities to focus on reform tasks set at the CPC’s 19th National Congress. The congress, which concluded last month, drew up the blueprint for the country’s development in the coming decades.

Under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Xi as the core, the Party advanced reform theories and practices, which has laid the basis for the coming steps of deepening reform, according to a statement released after the meeting.

The reform measures must be people-centered and carried out under the unified leadership of the Communist Party of China no matter how the reform has been deepened, the statement said.

The statement stressed that the Party’s 19th National Congress has set new tasks to deepen overall reform, with more practical measures required. Local authorities are urged to be well prepared for more arduous tasks to implement the measures.

During the meeting, the senior leaders reviewed 17 documents and discussed a wide range of reform issues covering such areas as supervision of State-owned assets, poverty reduction, rural environmental protection, protection of lakes, education, rural farmland, health and intellectual property.

According to the conference, the State Council, China’s Cabinet, should report the management situation of State-owned assets to the National People’s Congress, the top legislature, because it is an important measure to enhance supervision of State-owned assets, as required at the Party’s 19th National Congress.

The conference highlighted the importance of dispatching responsible teams to poverty-stricken villages as a method for the country’s massive plan of lifting all poor people out of poverty by 2020. The dispatched teams must focus on targeted goals, make practical efforts and satisfy the people, said the statement.

The conference stressed that it’s important to introduce a third party for appraisal when lawmaking procedures involve adjustments of major interests and controversies.

The top anti-graft body of the Communist Party of China (CPC) said Monday that 6,190 officials were punished in October for violating Party austerity rules.

The officials were involved in 4,353 cases, according to the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI).

Awarding an unauthorized allowance or bonus was the most common misdemeanor, followed by giving or accepting gifts and misuse of public vehicles.

A total of 53,195 officials involved in 37,824 cases were punished in the first ten months of 2017, the CCDI said.

The CPC released its eight-point rules on austerity in late 2012 to reduce undesirable work practices.

The CCDI has a monthly reporting system on the implementation of the rules within the provincial-level governments, central Party and government agencies, centrally-administered state-owned enterprises and central financial institutions.