A man from Anhui Province donated bone marrow earlier this week for a patient in Tianjin Municipality, making him the first donor in 2005 and the 36th since the establishment of the Shenzhen bone marrow bank Aug. 1, 2000, the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported.

Yuan Jun, 25, works for a Foshan company but asked for leave so he could make the donation, the report said.

Yuan Jun worked in Shenzhen and donated blood three times after he first came here in 1998. In 2002, he left Shenzhen to work in Foshan.

On March 21, 2003, Yuan Jun returned to Shenzhen for a visit and donated blood for a fourth time. He wrote a letter at that time, promising to donate marrow if necessary.

In July last year, a blood center in North China's Tianjin contacted Shenzhen's marrow bank, asking for help in finding matching marrow to save a woman leukemia patient. After carefully examining the details of more than 8,000 volunteers, the bank matched Yuan's with the patient.

The bank called Yuan's parents in Anhui and finally contacted Yuan.

Yuan said he was very glad to help others in need.

When everything was ready, Yuan took a coach from Foshan to Shenzhen to make the donation.

"I had been to many cities but Shenzhen impressed me most. I decided to join the volunteer team to donate blood and marrow after I heard so many moving stories from the city that people help each other," Yuan said.

Editor: Catherine