CHONGQING, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Suffering from uremia, an 18-year-old teenager who called herself Xiaowei, lives a much healthier life after receiving a kidney donation five years ago in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.

"This little angel gave me the gift of life, bestowing hope for me and my family," Xiaowei said, expressing her gratitude to the donor, who was a two-year-old boy.

The sixth Organ Donation Day in China falls on June 11 this year. Tens of thousands of patients have been reborn through organ transplantation as organ donation is being accepted by an increasing number of people.

China started piloting its organ donation program in 2010. According to the latest report on organ transplantation development in China in 2019, the country's body donation rate per million population rose from 2.01 in 2015 to 4.16 in 2019.

The number of registered organ donors in China had exceeded 4.78 million, according to the China Organ Donation Administrative Center, an increase of more than 100 times compared with the 25,000 registered cases in 2015.

In 2021, Yi Zecheng, 75, and his wife Chen Maoxiu, 65, both registered donors, held their wedding at the Chongqing Organ Donation Memorial Park.

"We hope to give our thanks to and commemorate all donors, and also to bring more public attention to human organ donation, so that more people can be a part of this voluntary activity," Chen said.

Over the past few years, the couple have participated in numerous public welfare activities, calling volunteers together to pay a comfort visit to the donating families, and accompanying donors amid their cremation.

"There are about 300,000 patients in China every year who need organ transplantation, and the transplant organs are still very short," said Zhang Leida, a member of the Chinese Society of Organ Transplantation.

"We hope more people to participate in organ donation and transplantation to save more lives," Zhang added.