(Ecns.cn)--An 18-year-old boy with autism thrilled the audience of a Chinese talent show with his wonderful erhu performance while his father stood by his side on the stage of the Shanghai Concert Hall.
Wei Jun's debut on China's Got Talent was televised on Dragon TV, December 11. He has progressed to the next round of the competition so the public will be seeing more of his virtuosity with the Chinese two-stringed fiddle.
Wei Jun, from Nanchang, East China's Jiangxi Province, was diagnosed with autism as a 10-month-old infant. Doctors told his parents that his mental functioning would never be higher than that of a five-year-old child.
When Wei Jun reached the age of six, he was refused entry to normal elementary schools. His father, Wei Zhaobao, decided to quit his job and educate the boy at home.
"What will become of him if he is totally illiterate?" Wei Zhaobao wondered. "As his parents, we bitterly regretted his condition. I hope our efforts will result in him having a normal life."
Wei Jun has shown a great interest in music since he was 10. He would even miss meals to catch live music at wedding ceremonies or funerals in his neighborhood.
When Wei Jun was 12 years old, he started to learn the erhu under the guidance of a local busker. He made enormous progress and transcended the busker's level in a year. Then he became a student of Wang Dachang, former dean of Jiangxi Conservatory of Music.
Wei Zhaobao said: "Mr Wang thought one-on-one tutorials were necessary in my son's case. He was very fond of Jun and kindly offered discounts on his tuition fees.
"Music has opened up new prospects for his mental and social development. He has been more confident and more often inclined to wear a smile since he started playing the erhu."
Wei Jun has performed in the city center of Nanchang in the company of his father for the past few years. "We are not busking for money, but for the confidence and happiness of my son," Wei Zhaobao said. He said many passers-by praise his son's performance and sometimes stopped to chat with Jun for awhile, which gradually improved the youth's confidence and communication skills.
Wei Jun said: "My father quit his job for me. He educated me and let me study the erhu. I have deep gratitude and respect for him."
Besides his talent for music, Wei Jun also possesses a prodigious memory for dates and has been dubbed "the Chinese rain man". On China's Got Talent show, the judges asked him what day October 1st, 1949 was and what day January 11th, 1966 was. Without any hesitation he replied that the former was Saturday and the latter was Tuesday.
Wei Jun told the Nanchang Evening Post that his dream was to study at the Central Conservatory of Music, the leading music school in China. He also wished to meet his idol, mentally disabled music conductor Zhou Zhou.
