Xie Yanting attends a class at Lanzhou University in Lanzhou, capital of northwest China's Gansu Province, May 10, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Bin)
LANZHOU, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Xie Yanting walks with a sluggish, unsteady gait and his hands, involuntarily clenched in fists, do little to help him hold a pen. But the 31-year-old will soon get his doctoral degree in math, proving that a disability is no barrier to fulfilling his dream.
A native of Lanzhou, capital of northwest China's Gansu Province, Xie has just finished his thesis and is ready for oral defense.
In the dedication page, he thanked all who had helped him over the years: his parents, teachers, friends, as well as the country and the epoch that he lives in.
"I entered Lanzhou University 12 years ago and am thankful to have finished my doctoral thesis," wrote Xie, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at 11 months old, a disability that affects the movements of his limbs. He spent a whole year on his 100-page thesis, typing slowly with only two fingers.
The bespectacled young man described the past 12 years as "the best time so far" in his life.
FROM HOMESCHOOL TO AUDITOR AT UNI
Xie was born in 1992, but learned to read long before he was finally able to stumble along on his own feet at the age of six -- only after continuous medical intervention including acupuncture and physiotherapy.
He was homeschooled, as no school was willing to accept a child who, despite his intelligence, could not walk properly. He finished primary and junior high school with the help of his parents and grandfather, and learned all the senior high courses independently.
"Writing was difficult for him, as his withered hands could not hold a pen properly," said Xie's mother, Liu Xiaofeng. "He worked really hard, but his writing was unreadable."
With love, patience and encouragement, Xie's parents taught him not to let his illness stand in his way. He became passionate about science and his hero was Stephen Hawking, the world-renowned theoretical physicist.
In 2011, Xie sat for the national college entrance exam. Unable to write, he only managed to answer the multiple choice questions on every paper, by filling the circles on the answer sheet. But these took up a very small fraction of the exam, so out of a total of 750 points, he scored only 262, a failing grade for any university.
Xie's dream of higher education came true when the math institute of Lanzhou University eventually accepted him as an auditor.
His parents rented an apartment for him on campus and a retired aunt took care of him. He wobbled from one place to another, needed 30 minutes to go up the stairs to the library, and refrained from drinking or going to the bathroom for hours on end.
This special student, "who only listened but never took up a pen," soon caught the attention of Prof. Xu Shoujun, who taught coordinate geometry to the freshmen.
Encouraged by Prof. Xu, Xie became interested in graph theory, a branch of mathematics where he found pleasure in problem solving and reasoning. He devoted all his time taking courses and doing research, published 10 theses in Chinese and international science magazines and obtained a master's degree in 2019.
DREAMING BIG BUT ONE STEP AT A TIME
To be a mathematician is no easy job and Xie, too, went through many setbacks. He often sits for a whole day pondering over a problem or reading intently. Some of his books have been read so often that their pages have become loose.
But he never thought of giving up. "That's not a word in my lexicon," said Xie. "I have no other choice, so I must keep going."
He is thankful to those who have helped him. "At every major step, someone is there to give me a hand. Together, they are like an invisible ship that has carried me to different places, showed me different landscapes and strengthened me all along."
Xie said the road ahead is still full of uncertainties but he will continue doing scientific research. "I enjoy what I am doing now: thinking, writing and editing theses until more findings are published."
He cares for other cerebral palsy patients, too. "I know many of them are gifted in different areas -- computer science for example, but very few have received any systematic training. I hope the society will give them more opportunities."
Xie sees life as a math problem that everyone is trying to solve. "Keep working on it and we'll all come up with our own best answer!"
Incomplete statistics show at least 6 million people in China suffer from cerebral palsy, a third of whom are children aged from zero to six years old. The number is growing by an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 a year. ■
Xie Yanting (L) and a classmate visit the history museum at Lanzhou University in Lanzhou, capital of northwest China's Gansu Province, May 10, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Bin)
