A MAN has developed new and surprising tastes and habits after undergoing a heart transplant at a hospital in Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, six years ago.

"Now, I love wearing jeans and shirts in yellow and white, fashionable ones. I have been allergic to fish ever since the transplant operation. For the past six years, I have not been able to eat fish anymore," Yang Mengyong, 64, was quoted by a China Radio International report as saying yesterday.

The Harbin native loved to fish and was a fish junkie.

Yang's wife Li Guangping, who has lived with him for 40 years, said she hardly recognizes him now.

Li said she discovered the subtle changes in her husband after the operation.

"He became easily irritated during the first two years," she said. "But I did not tell him so he would not worry."

Yang confirmed this. He described his behavior as that of "an uneducated lad".

"It might have been the rejection of the donor heart," Yang recalled. "I just could not help but lose my temper when someone cut in front of me in line and things like that."

Fortunately, the newfound impatience changed to gentleness two years later, as did his tastes and other habits.

Li said her husband has become more careful now, loves her more and spends more time with her. He puts away his own clothes every day and prepares everything well in advance for the next day. Yang never cared about housework before.

"I'm happy with his changes," she said.

There are still some embarrassing situations, however.

Yang's thick and low voice has become more feminine. His gray hair is turning black and he looks much younger than his own age.

Someone even thought Yang and his wife were son and mother once on a train.

He also finds himself easily touched by emotional TV programs, which never happened before.

Yang is the oldest among heart transplant recipients in China.

Dr. Liu, a cardiologist at the hospital where Yang underwent his operation, was only able to disclose the heart donor was a young man who was in his 20s or 30s.

Editor: Wing