Wang Weili prepares the DVD disc, checks the acoustics and gets ready for his next cinema audience.
　　The 50-square-meter room in a courtyard house in gulou West Street in Beijing is, however, not a conventional cinema. In place of a big screen or other professional equipment, there is only a TV set, a DVD player, some speakers and dozens of chairs.
　　and more specifically, the audience is visually impaired people from downtown and suburban Beijing, who can enjoy films by listening to the descriptions of film narrators.
　　The cinema is a program under the Beijing Hong Dan Dan Service Center for Sight-Impaired People, set up by Wang and his wife, Zheng Xiaojie in 2004. With their efforts, vision-impaired people in Beijing are able to “watch” films for free in this small room every Saturday.
　　Movie magic
　　Wu Dianzhong, 66, who first came to enjoy films here in 2005, was one of those who arrived early. He and his wife rode a bus for two hours from the outskirts of Beijing.
　　“I am always early so that I have enough time to chat with my friends here,” Wu told ChinAfrica. about one hour before the film started, people begin to arrive. They talked about daily chores and anecdotes, ranging from their personal life stories to neighborhood news, and exchange tips in housekeeping and recipes. Delighted giggles and occasional debates make the room highly atmospheric.
　　“Previously I felt restricted by poor sight and was reluctant to get involved in social activities. But this cinema particularly for us blind people brought happiness and knowledge to me,” Wu said, adding that he was more optimistic about life now that he had made more friends through the cinema.
　　In 2006, 16 government departments and organizations including the national Bureau of Statistics and China Disabled Persons’ Federation conducted the Second China national Sample Survey on Disability, the first since 1987. according to the estimation based on the survey, there were 82.96 million persons with different types of disabilities in China by 2006, of which 12.33 million were visually impaired.
　　“They are the people who have difficulties in society, even in their families,” said Zheng in an interview with ChinAfrica. “I think they need more help in their lives.”
　　Listening to films
　　at 9:30 a.m., the film started. Before it was shown, the narrator introduced the background, main characters and the overall plot of the story and what kind of emotion the film intended to present.
　　“a missile is being launched. It was the year 1980. People rise from their seats with enthusiastic applause bursting out in a hall, while Qian Xuesen, a scientist known as the father of Chinese rocket science, sits silently, enjoying his success with a smile,” narrated a young man.
　　They were scenes from the film Qian Xuesen. He stopped during dialogues and resumed to describe other scenes like those exhibiting characters’ expressions. The audience listened carefully throughout the whole narration.
　　“I like this kind of film. It broadens my knowledge and Qian’s patriotism inspired me a lot,” said Li Ying, a visually impaired woman in her 50s. “although the sounds of the film and of the narrator sometimes overlapped, we can get the primary information as our ears are extremely sensitive. and with the narrator’s interpretation, we can better understand the story.”
　　“By listening to films here, I feel that my life is getting rich and meaningful,” Wu said.
　　Wang said keys of narrating a film lay in how to simultaneously interpret vivid scenes to sightimpaired people with appropriate words in a short time. Before interpreting a film, the narrator had to watch the film several times. “He asks me to listen to his narration with my eyes closed the night before showing the film so that he could make our audiences better understand,” Zheng said.
　　Filling a need
　　Zheng didn’t mean to run the cinema program at the beginning, but wanted to shoot a film recording the sight-impaired people’s real lives. “Stories of people with disabilities are most inspiring. This is what I wanted to show to the audience,” she recalled.
　　But later, during her communications with sightimpaired people, she found that what they need is to have a normal life, including having entertainment activities. So she decided to run the cinema with her husband to help sight-impaired people.
　　Resigning from her former job in a research insti- tute, Zheng has devoted herself to helping the visually impaired with her husband for almost eight years. They spent all of their savings on the project.
　　“While helping these people, I can also get happiness out of it,” Zheng always responds to others’ praise of her devotion. “I feel at ease after helping them. Seeing them in trouble, I could not fall asleep,” said Zheng.
　　Instead of winning sympathy with the excuse of having physical disabilities, Zheng asks the sight-impaired people to show their talents and earn a living by themselves. “not only should the attitude of society, but also that of the sight-impaired people themselves be changed,” she said. Zheng said that regarding them as a vulnerable group is discriminating against them and what they need are respect, understanding and opportunities to display their abilities.
　　apart from the cinema, the center also runs an audio library, where books are read page-by-page by volunteers and recorded to CDs. all of the audio books are offered for free. It also organizes volunteers to lead visually impaired people to visit places of interests, such as the great Wall.
　　“Insisting on working as volunteers is not easy. It requires lasting passion and great patience,” Zheng said.
　　“actually I enjoy being a volunteer. By doing something for them, I also improve myself, with my inner heart becoming more calm and devoted,”Zhao Xin, a volunteer in Hong Dan Dan,told ChinAfrica.
　　Together with volunteers, Wang said, he and his wife would persist to enrich the sight-impaired people’s lives and awakening their self-awareness.