'Panda Knight' leaves his mark over 8 years

When President Xi Jinping made a speech at Nazarbayev University in Astana, Kazakhstan, in September 2013, he mentioned a young Kazakh man who was famous for donating blood in China.

Tulenov Ruslan, a postgraduate student at Beijing Science and Technology University, was praised by the president as "part of a Sino-Kazakhstan Friendship Epic".

In the past eight years, he donated more than 5,000 milliliters of blood in China, an amount that exceeds the average adult's blood volume.

Born and raised in Atyrau, an oil town in western Kazakhstan, Ruslan has been obsessed with Chinese culture since his childhood.

"I often watched Chinese movies and cartoons on TV then, and my favorite is Xi-youji (or Journey to the West)," he recalled.

In 2009, Ruslan came to Hainan University and started his studies in China. "I chose Hainan because I was originally attracted by its beautiful seaside scenery, and it turns out to be a paradise."

When he first saw his classmates donating blood on a blood donation vehicle, Ruslan recalled his mother's words. "Mom told me to be a helpful person, a good person." Without hesitation, he decided to join his classmates in donating blood.

Knowing that he has Type O, Rh negative blood - only three in every 1,000 Chinese have such a blood type and Rh factor - Ruslan decided to set up blood donations as a routine, and he has donated blood twice a year ever since.

"I regard it as one of my hobbies," he laughed.

Ruslan's O-negative blood, in the words of an old phrase, is "as rare as a panda". Thus it is called "panda blood" in China.

His legendary deeds have earned him the title of the "Panda Knight".