The stories of discrimination still anger him. One deaf dancer fell in love, but her boyfriend's parents at frst rejected her: Tey didn't want their only son to marry someone so fawed. Another said her mother was so depressed over having a deaf daughter she nearly committed murder-suicide by jumping of a clif with her baby.
A dancer named Huang Yangguang told of losing both arms to an electric shock at age 5. He learned to write with his feet so he could keep up at school. Students mocked him.There was the blind fute player who no music academy would recruit because of his lack of eyesight. Or Jiang Xintian, the deaf sign language interpreter who competed in China's Miss Universe competition.
Liu said, "She was treated unfairly. Ten she was awarded the Special Ambassador of the 52nd Miss Universe by headquarter. Liu said, because they wanted a normal person to represent China. "Why?" he asks, growing angry as he talks. He rises from a table and paces. "Maybe someone from another planet would see a person with one arm as the most beautiful. Where does our world come up with its idea of beauty?"
The troupe's Beijing headquarters features practice facilities, dorms and classrooms where the young artists continue their studies as they work out with the troupe.
Slowly, they began shaping their raw talents. Performers learned dance interpretation. Tey pressed their heads against drums to sense the vibrations. Many were feeling music for the frst time.
Art was more than just technique, Liu stressed. It was about spirit and emotion. And these senses they all possessed in spades.
For these societal castofs, the troupe was a revelation. "How lucky I could be deaf and come here!" said 9-year-old Wang Yimei, who has been deaf since age 1.
Her mother, a troupe volunteer, put her daughter's enthusiasm in perspective. "Tere are thousands of misfortunes being deaf," Li Su Qin said. "Tis is one lucky thing."
The troupe cultivates not only the performers' talents but also their sense of self. Te associate director of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games once asked one blind troupe musician if he wanted the ability to see.
"I prefer not," he responded. "I'm used to my own world. My piano brings me light."
For the troupe, 2002 was a pivotal year. Tat's when the troupe entered the commercial markets.
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