The Associations for the Blind in China
Today, we are going to know more about the associations for the blind in China. Beijing, the capital of China; and Shanghai, the biggest business city of China, are the cases to study.
According the website of Baidu ( the replacement for Google in China), the study of WHO (World Health Organization) from the director of the prevention for the blind and deaf, Dr. Thylefore, suggests there are around 5 million blind people in China (imagine the whole population in Finland is blind…), which is the biggest group in the world and the number goes higher by 450,000 people per year. If the situation continues without any solutions, the number would be fourfold- 20 million visually impaired. On the website of WHO, it clearly points out that most of the blind are from developing countries. As we can see, while the booming economy starts, China has lots of issues to deal with; lots of people in need to take care of.
I am here to introduce you a school in Beijing and an association in Shanghai. Meanwhile, I can also compare the service in Taiwan with China. The first thing I notice is that both websites have the English version for foreigners. It would make things a lot easier to interact with the resources overseas.
In Beijing, there is the special school for the blind- Beijing School for the Blind, the only educational institution for the blind. It was founded in 1874. It is not only the earliest special educational school in China but also the unique special educational school for the visually impaired in Beijing .It has now developed into a comprehensive school for visually impaired students ,which includes kindergarten for kids before, special-needs class ,primary and secondary schools , high school section (including senior high, intermediate vocational school for acupuncture and massage and piano tuning vocational high school) and teachers’ training program.
The school also undertakes the responsibility of guiding those visually impaired children reading in normal schools, information counseling and early intervention for the visually impaired children from 0 to 3.
Over the years, the school has highlighted the idea of "scientific development" "people-oriented" and "multiple intelligences". The school art troupe and sports teams have won many awards in international and domestic competitions .It is one of the earliest schools that carry out the research project of computer-aided teaching .Thus we build a bridge for the visually impaired students to step into the information society by using modern technology. In 2008, the massage teaching and research group of our school was honored as Innovative intermediate vocational school team in Beijing. The teachers and students of our vocational department have won a number of prizes in many domestic massage competitions. What’s more, the profession of piano tuning is unique and has a good reputation in China, having trained a great many influential piano tuners that are warmly welcomed by the community. Now the new Beijing School for the Blind is developing to have fine education facilities, first-class teaching quality, and high reputation both at home and abroad. Now the new Beijing school for the blind is developing towards the goal of Beijing first, China best, world advanced.
The vocational education is worthy to know more if you are interested (http://mrxx.bjedu.gov.cn/EVocational.asp). The photo below is the 6th contest of massage for the blind. The student from Beijing School for the Blind had the excellent performance. The way to contact the school is via e-mail: yangshifeng504@163.com; or by phone call: surport: 010-88464930＆Tel: 010-88461146.The School Address : Beijing School For The Blind ,NO.11 Fuwai wuluju,Haidian District, Beijing, China.
Through their own introduction, I can see the difference. First, Beijing School for the Blind integrates early intervention, computer science, piano tuning training, massage training and Chinese acupuncture training with their lesson planning. The trainings for future jobs are more choices for the blind. Further, on the website, I can read lots of details for the vocational education but not in the Taipei school for the blind. It seems that the information at the Taipei school is not transparent enough.
Next, let’s talk about the association for the blind in Shanghai. Originally, the association for the blind was founded in Beijing in 1953, and then in 1961, the branch in Shanghai was built up. The association is well-organized with professors of Shanghai Music College supervised.
Again, I see more information and resources on the website- the English version, the national library for the blind, the electronic products for the blind. Allow me to cut to the chase to mention the electronic products. There are audio labels, e-book for the blind and two specialized cell phones.
The audio labels are the special labels to audibly inform the blind what the things are, such as the heater that they should not touch or the medicine they should take every day. The product is from the company called AMONE Company and charged as 150 RMB (19 euros).
愛漫科技 AMONE （北京）有限公司
聯繫人：張彥輝 先生 (Mr. Yan-hui Zhang)
電話 (phone)： 010-82897271-606
手機(mobile)：18801012131
傳真(fax)：010-82439285-607
郵箱 (e-mail)：18801012131@139.com
QQ (the Chinese version of MSN)：530562053
The audio books work as the moving library. By downloading the file, you can listen to books and manage your personal agenda. There are more products from the Guangzhou Braun Electronics Ltd., especially for the blind and deaf. The info to contact the company is as below:
廣州博朗電子產品有限公司(Guangzhou Braun Electronics Ltd.)
公司地址：中國廣東省 (Guangdong Province, China)廣州市天河區車陂路黃洲工
公司網址 (website)： http://www.eview-ebook.com/enindex.asp
聯繫電話 ( phone )：0086-020-38602937or 13482759849
There are two cell phones served for the blind- GA81 and E2266. Basically, they have unique functions like they can “speak” to the users. The first one is installed with GPS to help the blind find places, also with the special typing function, the blind can use social media like QQ (the Chinese “MSN”) to contact people.
And for the second one, it has the SOS function for the blind to call out for help. The typing is also for the blind. Speaking of it, there is a big program for the blind in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. I just read an article to introduce the national library for the blind. It says that although all can speak Mandarin Chinese in these three places, the “written languages” are all different from one another! Therefore, the keyboard to type and the written books cannot be shared. If you are interested to open the market in these three countries for the blind, it is the thing you should keep in mind- the language barrier.
The E2266 phone is from TongQiMing Technology Development Ltd., and here is the info to make contact with them.
北京瞳啟明科技發展有限公司（ TongQiMing Technology Development Ltd. ）
公司地址(address)：北京市海淀區復興路 83 號
電話(phone)：0086-10-5160 6478
傳真(fax)：0086-10-5160 6478
E-mail：andrew.wei@tongqiming.com
Again, hope the information I share helps you know the service for the blind better!
Comments
Chloe, I'll call you at 10h30 about the next step. I'm still at my brothers house in Southern Finland. We're leaving today with Aki to Helsinki - and I'll be driving up North to Sotkamo. I did read your detailed budget outline which was very good.
Thanks for this informative study report from China. I'll return to Sotkamo on Monday and we could take a look into the budget of a field study, visiting these institutes and to negotiate a collaboration agreement. Have a grea weekend.