Each member of the China Disabled People’s Performing Art Troupe (CDPPAT) has a remarkable story, and the CDPPAT’s sign language host, Jiang Xintian, is no exception. Born in the summer of 1984, the infant girl was a source of great joy for her parents and family. And yet, due to a cruel twist of fate, a treatment with an anti-thrombotic needle robbed the child of her hearing at 3 months of age. Clinging to hope, her mother, Zhao Lin, went to every hospital seeking help for her daughter, but nothing could be done.
Frantic with grief, I lost my senses and wanted to end our lives in the sea…
It was her daughter’s cry that turned the tide of despair and sorrow in her mother’s heart, and she vowed to give her child a happy life, finally accepting what had occurred. Soon, Zhao was training Jiang to practice vocalization by letting her feel the vibration of the vocal chords in her throat. When Jiang finally uttered her first sound, “Mum,” at age three, her mother was overjoyed.
Though the sound was not clear, it was the most beautiful sound in the world.
She was at the closing ceremony of the Athens Paralympics Games in 2004, and used sign language to invite people from around the world to come to China in 2008. And on August 28 four years later, she was an emissary of the Paralympic torch relay lighting ceremony in Beijing.
Though the sound was not clear, it was the most beautiful sound in the world.
On August 28, 2008, China Disabled People’s Performing Art Troupe undertook the Flame Lighting Ceremony of the Beijing Paralympic Games and all the arts performances. Jiang Xintian is the flame-collecting messenger. She stretched her arms up to the heaven and down to the earth, expressing the profound respect and worship to heaven and earth. She opened her arms to hug the sunshine, presenting best wishes to human beings.
The weather wasn't good on the 28th, but when I began to light the torch, there was a beam of bright sunlight shooting through the cloud and it lit the torch. I will never forget that moment.
Jiang watched herself on TV that night, and saw how she had looked up to the sky while holding the torch high. She would later confide that she did that to hold back the tears and ease her emotions at this pivotal moment – a little deaf girl had become a superstar. And yet, for Jiang, her life’s journey is not about that: She doesn’t seek fame, or the glory of being a great artist, instead, she just wants to do more for disabled people.
