China's first human organ donor hot line ceased operations Thursday after more than five years of effort to quelling public prejudice against the practice.

The Shanghai-based hot line, which was started by Fang Jingdong in 1998, has inspired thousands of people to donate their organs to science and to organ transplant patients.

"I hate to say good-bye," said Fang, 59, a donor himself.

Fang has received over 1,000 phone queries from volunteers nationwide in the past five years, filled up four thick notebooks and helped at least 500 volunteers register as donors.

In 2001, he was named an "outstanding volunteer" by the Shanghai Red Cross.

Fang said the hot line had to be closed partly because of his personal problems. The asthma patient had been in poor health since the beginning of this year, and in the worst times, even talking was a problem. The phone was often unanswered when Fang, who lived by himself, was in hospital.

But a more important reason was the hot line had "outlived its usefulness," according to Fang. "People do not have to dial my hot line, now that the government has opened up official hot lines and organ donor centers to receive volunteers."

Fang led a one-man campaign against the firm traditional belief that wholeness of the body brings peace to the soul. He encountered much resistance. Few people called when the hot line first opened, and those who did were often critical.

"I once doubted if the hot line could survive," he said.

But he was soon surprised at how fast attitudes changed. "People have come to understand that by donating their own organs, they can bring hope for others," he said.

Fang said he was grateful to those who had supported him over the years, from ordinary folks to celebrities, such as Prof. Xie Xide, former president of the prestigious Fudan University, who was among the first donors.

"The closing of Fang's hot line may represent an end to his personal endeavors, but we ought to feel thankful for what he has done for society," said Wu Zanke, a graduate student with Fudan University.

More than 15,000 Shanghainese registered as donors since 1992, according to the Shanghai Red Cross.

In Beijing, three organ donor centers have registered 5,218 volunteers over the last three years, 256 of whom have fulfilled their wills.

Sources say that organ donations are on the rise in provinces such as Anhui and Jiangxi in east China.

Healthy individuals of at least 18 years of age may become donors in China.

(Xinhua News Agency December 18, 2003)