After being successfully "impregnated," the first digitized virtual Chinese (DVC) will be born next year.

By using advanced computer technology and bio-technology, scientists have created the visible digitized VH model, said Zhong Shizhen, a professor with the Military Medical University.

Since the late 1990s, digitized VH has been used in many fields, including medical sciences, aviation, architecture, machine design and film and TV production, scientists said.

A digitized VH can help surgeons perform complicated surgery and predict the outcome. The technology can also let scientists stage traffic accidents and then design protective equipment to help prevent those accidents from occurring in reality.

The DVC project belongs to the nation's 863 High-tech Program, a program so called because it was suggested in March 1986 by four Chinese scientists, highlights the development of biotechnology, aviation, information science, automation, energy, new materials and ocean utilization technologies.

The study of digitized VH includes three phases: the virtual visible human, the virtual physical human and the virtual bio-human, Zhong said.

The United States first obtained the view of an individual body's cross-section and a digitized dissected human body in 1991; South Korean scientists conducted their own VH research nine years later and have just finished a second data bank on a virtual visible human.

It can take a country up to three years to master VH technology, experts said.

Chinese researchers spent six months on data selection of a standard Chinese human body and the load scheme of blood vessels, said Li Kang, university president.

By July, breakthroughs had been achieved in data collection of a digitized virtual Chinese, Li said.

A special panel praised the research, saying it has reached the international level in the VH field on par with the United States and South Korea.

(China Daily July 30, 2002)