Lee Shang-hsuan (
Lee was born with G-6-PD deficiency -- a hereditary, sex-linked enzyme defect that results in the breakdown of red blood cells when the person is exposed to stress from infection or certain drugs.
At the age of threee, he was diagnosed as a "hyperactive autistic child with medium-grade mental disability" -- yet he is gifted with an extraordinary memory for numbers and musical scores.
PHOTO: LEE KAI-CHU, TAIPEI TIMES
Undaunted by his multiple deficiencies, his parents have devoted an enormous amount of energy toward developing his musical talent.
Lee began to play piano at the age of four. With his exceptional ability to memorize musical scores,he quickly excelled; his piano teacher praised him as a genius.
Over the past 15 years, Lee has taken part in numerous piano competitions. Last year, he won one of the top honors in a national piano contest for senior high school students.
Lee has gained international fame, capturing two awards in the first international Paralympic piano competition held in Japan last year, and is scheduled to give a piano recital at the National Concert Hall in Taipei on Jan. 27 next year.
Lee graduated from a special school in Nantzu (楠梓), Kaohsiung, last year. Because of his disabilities, he was unable to pass the entrance exams for universities.
Through coordination among the Presidential Office, educational authorities and several universities in the south, Pingtung University finally agreed to admit Lee to the school's special educational resources center so he can continue his musical training.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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