ZHENG Hongping, 59, who has a very rare blood type — Rh negative — has been serving as a voluntary unpaid blood donor for 17 years.
Yesterday, she celebrated the 14th World Blood Donor Day, with other donors in front of the Oriental Pearl Tower.
The iconic building was lit up in red to pay tribute to the donors and volunteers and to raise public awareness of the need for safe blood.
Last year, 351,000 people in Shanghai became voluntary unpaid blood donors, a ratio of nearly 15 out of every 1,000 people, up 4.6 percent over 2015.
The number of the city’s blood donation volunteers — people who help the donation operation, such as supplying transport, as well as often being donors themselves — also hit a new high. Forty percent of them are born in the 1980s, and 30 percent in the 1990s.
“My first blood donation happened in 2000, when I was informed that I was Rh negative,” said Zheng.
It is extremely rare for an Asian to have Rh negative blood. In China, the ratio is two to four per 1,000 people.
When Zheng learnt her blood was so rare, she became a frequent blood donor and a volunteer to promote the importance of blood donation. She has donated whole blood 16 times.
On the eve of the Spring Festival this year, Zheng went to Changhai Hospital for another blood donation after being informed of a patient in need of large amount of Rh negative blood for a surgery.
“I never think of blood donation as hard work, as it’s saving people’s lives,” Zheng said.