Mr. Liu, 42, just had an operation in which a toe was transplanted onto his hand in order to take the place of a finger that has been gone for 13 years. Seeing his toe attached to his hand, Mr. Liu and his family all remarked on how unbelievable it was.

Mr. Liu is from Chuzhou of east China's Anhui province. Thirteen years ago, he accidentally cut off a section of his left index finger while operating machinery. He went to a hospital and got simple treatment for the wound. He never thought of replacing his finger.

However, Mr. Liu heard in December about the possibility of replacing his finger with a toe. So he went to Anhui People's Hospital in Hefei, the capital of Anhui province. 

Xie Zhenjun, director of the Hand and Foot Microsurgery Department, said that Mr. Liu's situation qualified him for the operation. The doctor would take a section of the second toe from Liu's left foot and attach it to his hand. On Dec. 21, Mr. Liu got his new "finger" .

"The hardest part of the operation is the connection of the toe and the finger. If the connection fails, the transplanted toe will not survive," said the doctor. Fortunately, Mr. Liu's operation succeeded.