China launched its part of the International Human Genome Haplotype Map research project on Monday. The whole project aims to establish a database of human hereditary information by collecting DNA samples from Asians, Africans, and Europeans. The task will be jointly completed by five countries, namely, the US, Britain, Japan, Canada and China.

China will undertake 10 percent of the international project by providing half of the Asian DNA samples. The work gets underway at Beijing Normal University on Monday morning. China's participation marks a great step forward in genetic research.

Following the completion of the 1 percent of the work undertaken by China in the previous Human Genome Sequencing Map project, China's genome research has achieved rapid progress. This time, china will be capable of making a 10-percent contribution to the Human Genome Haplotype Map project. This indicates china is now at the forefront of research on the human genome and other biological research.

With China's participation in the project, the country will have access to the genome sequencing variation information for all human races, including the Han Chinese. This will provide all the basic disease-related information for the country's genome diversity research being undertaken in China.

(CCTV.com September 23, 2003)