A group advocating living wills, in which people can dictate whether their lives may be artificially extended, has vowed to promote the practice among more people in China, despite technical and institutional challenges.

The Beijing Living Will Advocacy Association, established in July, now works under the management of the Beijing Health Bureau.

"The first thing the association is going to do is to improve its online registry to ensure that testators' information is safe with us, that they can change their decision at any time, and that their will is available when it is time," said Luo Diandian, co-founder of the association and Choices and Dignity, a website created in 2006 to promote living wills.