Special report: Reconstruction After Earthquake

    BEIJING, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Chairman of the Central Military Commission Hu Jintao have signed an order to bestow military surgeon Zhuang Shihua a first-class merit.

    Zhuang, 52, now president of the hospital affiliated to the Xinjiang Armed Police corps in far west of the country, has been in the armed police for 35 years.

    He has successfully completed a record 58,000 operations, mostly gall bladder surgeries, and made seven breakthroughs that filled the national blank of the field.

    Working in a region with various ethnic minorities, the selfless doctor greatly contributed to the region's ethnic unity. He constantly visited patients by walking on snow-capped plateaus, the distance he covered exceeding 380,000 km.

    Zhuang had also donated about 46,000 yuan (6,600 U.S. dollars) to his patients and provided long-term financial assistance to three poor students.