China to Fund Chinese Human Genome Project

BEIJING--The National Natural Science Fund Committee of China will spend 7 million yuan during the next four years for a study of the structure and function of the Chinese human genome, according to a Xinhua news agency report last month. The project will build a genebank from a variety of the 56 different Chinese ethnic groups in order to study genetics and relationships among the groups. China first began funding human genome studies in 1994, when the Science Fund Committee funded 3.6 million yuan for studies of the Chinese human genome.