HONG KONG, March 4 -- A recent survey by the University of Hong Kong has shown that the majority of people familiar with the body donation say they would be willing to bequeath their body to medical education, local press reported Wednesday.

Eighty-four percent of the 807 respondents said they had heard of body donation and 51 percent of them said they would be willing to donate, according to sources with the university, RTHK reported.

Dr. LK Chan, from the university's Department of Anatomy, said donations had been steadily growing over the past decade, but corpses continued to be needed.

The Department of Anatomy runs a body donation program which allows people to donate their bodies after they pass away for the purposes of medical education and research.