A female Chinese writer has cryogenically frozen her brain in the hope that she can be resurrected in the future when science is more advanced, media reports say.

Du Hong, a Chinese writer who has cryogenically frozen her brain in the hope that she can be resurrected in the future when science is more advanced. [File photo]

Du Hong, a writer of children's literature from China's Chongqing Municipality, was pronounced dead on May 30. The moment she passed away, two doctors from the United States -- who were waiting by her side for a couple of days -- injected medicine into her body to make sure her blood continued circulating and later performed the first step of cryogenics, a medical technology that preserves human beings and animals at low temperatures in the hope that they can be revived later when better medical technology is available.

Du is believed to be the first Chinese national to have undergone cryogenics.

The writer was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2014. She decided to give cryogenics a try after she learned about a case in Thailand where a young girl's body was frozenin February for future revival.

Du's daughter and son-in-law got in touch with Alcor Life Extension Foundation, a U.S.-based institute that researches, advocates for and performs cryogenics. A total of 139 people have been preserved there so far, 60 percent of whom have frozen their brains.

"She said it is uncertain whether she would be resuscitated, but she didn't mind having this experiment on her own body, and that new technologies require that attempts be made," Du's son-in-law Lu Chen told local media.

Du and her family chose to freeze her brain, which cost US$120,000.

After the first surgery in Beijing, Du's body was transported to the United States.The ensuing operation went smoothly and now Du's brain is kept at -196℃, a temperature required for the preservation of cells and tissues. Liquid nitrogen will be added to the brain regularly.

The freezing helps reduce the metabolism of cells or organs, thus maintaining their vitality and the possibility of being revived, a doctor told media.

Alcor scientists believed that Du's brain can be unfrozen and that she can be revived in 50 years when science is more developed, but the foundation said it is only responsible for cryogenics, not actually bringing people back to life.

Whether the writer can be brought back to life depends on many other things, including connecting the brain to the spinal cord and the resuscitation of the nerve center, a Chinese doctor told media.

The deceased writer was one of the editors of the Three Body Problem, a Chinese science fiction novel which just won the 2015 Hugo Award for Best Novel. In the novel, one character undergoes cryogenics and is eventually resurrected by advanced clone technology.

When Du died, her daughter posted on social media saying, "Mum, I'll see you in future."

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