Tai Lihua: Moving China with One Thousand Hands 邰丽华：感动中国的"千手观音"

2005年央视春节晚会，由21位聋哑演员演绎的舞蹈《千手观音》，以优雅的舞姿与音乐的完美融合，和她们发自心灵深处关于爱的表达，征服了电视机前的亿万观众，把晚会推向高潮。亿万观众记住了《千手观音》，同时也记住了一个女孩的名字：邰丽华。
At the CCTV Spring Festival Gala of 2005, a dance The Thousand-Handed Goddess of Mercy presented by 21 deaf and mute dancers attracted the eyes of millions of TV audiences. The dance, with the graceful actions and perfect music and the love deep in their hearts, pushed the gala to the climax. The audiences remembered the dance The Thousand-Handed Goddess of Mercy, and a name of a girl: Tai Lihua.
2岁时不幸失聪
Becoming Deaf at the Age of 2
1976年11月，邰丽华出生于湖北宜昌的一个普通家庭。2岁时，邰丽华得了麻疹，高烧不退，为退烧医生就给她注射了大量链霉素，烧退了，但她从此变得又聋又哑。
November 1976. At the age of 2, she had measles and a high fever. In order to bring down the fever, a doctor injected too much streptomycin to her. Her fever was gone, but she became deaf and mute.
直到3岁，当她的同龄人可以玩"听声辨人"的游戏时，邰丽华才意识到自己是个聋哑人。别的小伙伴进入正常的小学去读书，而她只能到聋哑学校上学。
She didn't realize the fact Until she was 3 years old when she played the game of "telling people from their voices" with her friends. When her friends went to normal schools, she had to go to a primary school for deaf and mute children.
迷上舞蹈 不停苦练
Obsessed with Dancing and Practicing Hard
聋哑学校开设的律动课，是为了让学生通过振颤感受到节奏的变化。一次，老师将响鼓在木地板上咚咚地敲响，邰丽华感受到了那种自然的、有节奏的震动，她迷上了那种充满幸福的律动，从此爱上了舞蹈。练舞蹈非常辛苦，一次次跌倒，一次次又爬起来，邰丽华经常练得身上青一块、紫一块。
Her primary school had rhythm class to enable the students to understand the changes of tempo through feeling vibration of drums. once when the teacher hit the drums on the wooden floor, Tai Lihua felt the natural and rhythmic tempos. She loved the tempo which she thought full of pleasant and was obsessed with dancing. She studied very hard. She fell down many times and often got black and blue all over.
因为表现出超出常人的舞蹈天赋，邰丽华从宜昌跳到了省会武汉。1992年，邰丽华代表湖北省残疾人艺术团参加当年的演出，结果一下就被中国残疾人艺术团选中，随团访问奥地利、瑞典、挪威、荷兰四国。她出色的表演赢得了外国友人的青睐。当年8月，在意大利斯卡拉大剧院，举办了被称为人类艺术盛典的"无国界文明艺术节"，前来演出的都是世界上顶级的舞蹈家、音乐家。邰丽华作为惟一参加演出的听障人士，被誉为"美与人性的使者"。
Because of her extraordinary talent in dancing, Tai Lihua was elected from Yichang to the province's capital city of Wuhan. In 1992, Tai Lihua attended a performance on behalf of Hubei Provincial Disabled People's Performing Art Troupe, she was seleced by the China Disabled People's Performing Art Troupe to perform in Austria, Sweden, Norway and Holland. Her outstanding performance attracted attentions of foreign friends. In August that year, the "Civilization and Art Festival Without Border", known as the grand ceremony of art for the human race, was held in La Scala theater in Italy. All the performers for the festival were the top dancers and musicians in the world. As the only performer with disability in hearing, Tai Lihua was honored as the "envoy of beauty and humanity."

爱情鸟飞来了
Finding Her Love
1994年，邰丽华考入湖北省美术学院装潢设计系。在校期间邰丽华永远坐在教室第一排最中间的位子上，一边聚精会神地看着老师的口型，一边不断注视着同桌同学的笔记。每当老师突出一个重音并做出一个重要的手势，她就确信这是个重要的问题。她的成绩优秀，几乎所有的同学都愿意帮助她。这时，一只爱情鸟也悄悄朝她飞来。
In 1994, Tai Lihua took the examinations and was enrolled by the Hubei Fine Arts Institute as a student majoring in decoration and design. During his study in the institute, she always sat in the middle of the first row in the classroom. She carefully watched the teachers' lip movements and also looked at the note taken by her classmates. When a teacher highlighted something and made an important gesture, she was convinced that it was an important issue. Her performances were quite good and almost all her classmates liked to help her. At that period, her love was approaching her.
那是1995年底的一天，她去武汉一个居民区找一个亲戚，恰好亲戚外出，邻居一个男孩子就请她进他家去等。他们无法用言语交流，就用笔和纸交谈了一个下午，亲戚回来时，两人互留了联系方式。
One day in the late 1995, she went to a community in Wuhan to see a relative. It happened that her relative was not at home. A boy from the neighbor asked her to his home. Since they could not talk to each other in oral language, they used pens. When Tai Lihua's relative came back, they had each other's addresses.
那个男孩叫李春，当时正就读于华中科技大学，是个健全人。几天后，邰丽华收到了李春的来信，约她有空去他们学校玩。她就去华中科大找了他，两人从此开始了长达8年的恋爱。2003年3月，他们幸福地结婚了。
The boy was Li Chun, a normal student in Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Several days later, Tai Lihua received a letter from Li Chun, inviting her to his university. Then, she went to Li Chun's university and they started eight-year long romantic relations and got married happily in March 2003.
邰丽华长年在世界各地演出。在外演出时，她通过手机短信与家人"通话"，每天不下50条。
Tai Lihua travels around the world for performance all year round. She often communicate with her family members through cell phone text messages, more than 50 pieces of messages every day.
出访40多个国家
Visiting More Than 40 Countries
2002年8月，邰丽华调到中国残疾人艺术团担任演员队队长，同时兼任中国特殊艺术协会副主席。现在邰丽华除了辗转世界各地表演，最大的梦想就是为残疾人创编更多的舞蹈。
In April 2002, Tai Lihua became the head of the performers of China Disabled People's Performing Art Troupe and chairwoman of China Special Art Association. Today, Tai Lihua still performs around the world and her biggest dream is to create more dances for disabled people.
她出访过五大洲40多个国家，她是唯一登上世界两大顶级艺术殿堂--意大利斯卡拉大剧院、纽约卡内基音乐厅的中国艺术家，她也曾在雅典残奥会闭幕式的舞台上大放异彩。
She visited more than 40 countries in five continents and is the only Chinese artist who performed in the world two top-level art theaters ---- La Scala theater in Italy and Carnegie Hall of New York. She also performed the brilliant dance at the closing ceremony of the Paralympics in Athens.
邰丽华从2岁开始就生活在无声的世界里，但她并没有抱怨命运的不公，而是以一种积极、乐观的态度笑对人生，最终使自己成为艺术世界的一株奇葩。
Starting from the age of 2, Tai Lihua has been living in a silent world. But she does not complain about the unfair of the fate, but faces her life with a positive and optimistic attitude. Her efforts also make her a brilliant star in the art world.