Doctors in northwest China say they have performed the country's first face transplant on a Chinese man who was mauled by a black bear.

Xijing Hospital in Shaanxi province's Xi'an city announced it had attached a new cheek, upper lip, nose and eyebrow to a 30-year-old man.

A single donor provided the parts for the 14-hour operation on Friday.

Xinhua news agency reports the director of the plastic surgery department said it would be six months before the patient has feeling in his new face.

Xinhua says the man was attacked by a bear in Yunnan province two years ago and has since lived as a recluse because of his disfigurement.

Earlier this year, surgeons in France performed the world's first partial face transplant on a woman whose lips and nose were ripped off by a dog.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.