English training has long been a profitable industry in Beijing, so much so that many businesses have opened training programs for the skyrocketing number of English enthusiasts.
New Horizons English Training Centre, which was established this January, is probably one of the few that has made both ends meets financially after just eight months of operation.
And New Horizons is truly crossing a new horizon with a totally different mission than its competitors.
"I hope to offer free English training courses for people, especially the disabled, so that they can better serve the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games," said, New Horizons founder Yang Shuo, 25, who has suffered from Duchenne type muscular dystrophy (DMD) for nearly 17 years. "I want to prove that I have something worthwhile for society."
Yang's light-hearted childhood ended when he was only six years old. An accidental fall broke Yang's leg. What seemed like just falls and struggles soon developed into a disease.
At eight years of age, Yang was diagnosed with DMD, a group of muscle diseases which have three features in common: they are hereditary; they are progressive; and each causes a characteristic, selective pattern of weakness.
DMD affects only males, with rare exceptions. And as of now, there is no treatment for the disease. The progress of disability can be slowed by such measures as physiotherapy, but it cannot be stopped.
A doctor in Beijing told Yang's mother that her son would most likely not live beyond the age of 16.
Though Yang's parents took Yang to see many doctors across China, the results were not encouraging. Generalized weakness and muscle wasting first affected the muscles of the hips, pelvic area, thighs and shoulders.
After Yang and his parents celebrated his 16th birthday, the rest of his life has been counted day by day.
DMD eventually affected all his voluntary muscles, the heart and respiratory muscles when Yang was 16.
But a real miracle happened that year. Yang wrote a prescription for himself according to his eight years of medicine taking.
Yang's prescription was confirmed by an expert veteran doctor from Tongrentang, a royal drug firm serving Beijing for 330 years and a world-famous Chinese traditional medicine magnate.
Yang's prescription worked and he has already surpassed his life expectancy by nine years.
Yang can no longer walk and his upper body is also highly dampened by the disease.
Now, apart from his well-driving brain, only the forefinger on his right hand can move. He must sit all day in a wheelchair. When he wants to use the computer, a family member or assistant must draw his right hand to the mouse and then Yang will use his forefinger to click.
Despite his disease, Yang has never become depressed by the changes. He spends his time studying Chinese, physics, medicine, philosophy and English by himself. He flies solo, without the help of a teacher, tutor, or even classmates. His most convenient learning tool is the Internet.
Yang's idol is Stephen Hawking, a scientist severely disabled by Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) but who is highly active in physics, writing and public life.
Yang was particularly interested in English and the "Classics of Internal Medicine” China’s earliest classic work on medicine completed between 403 and 221 BC of the Warring States.
Yang has made many foreign friends through the Internet and the online chatting improved Yang's English level at a quick rate, so much so that he later succeeded in receiving the senior oral English certificate from a local Beijing education department.
In 2001, Beijing won the bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games and Yang wanted to do something for the Games.
He attended the examination for volunteer labor of the 2008 Olympic Game. Yang's superb oral English qualified him for the English test. But he was eventually refused because Yang cannot serve other people, but rather Yang needs others to serve him.
"I decided to open an English training centre for the disabled or those who need to improve their English to serve the Games," Yang said.
With the help of his family members, Yang's New Horizons English Training Centre was founded at Ganjiakou at the west end of downtown Beijing.
"Of course, I also hope to earn money for myself so that I can go to the United States to study philosophy and receive treatment," Yang said.
Yang invited some investors to co-sponsor the training centre. He has only one condition: 10 per cent of the students should be admitted free of charge if they choose New Horizons. The additional condition frightened Yang's potential business partners. So Yang decided to do it on his own.
Yang is not only a hopeful and optimistic entrepreneur, but also maintains a positive attitude about his illness. Treatment for the rare condition has been successful on a mouse and a dog, and the next step is a gorilla. However, no one holds any unrealistic expectations, Yang said.
Yang used to converse with others suffering from the same disease via the Internet.
"But most of them died before age 20," Yang said. "Only one lives now in a hospital and his condition is steadily worse."
According to medical records, most affected people survive into their twenties and a small minority survive only into their late teens, another small number live to more than 30 years of age.
"I am the lucky one," Yang said. "But I am not sure if I am lucky enough to live until the opening of the 2008 Olympic Games."
When asked what he wanted most if someday his disease was cured and he was totally recovered, Yang said: "I just want to run, run and run."
(China Daily July 28, 2005)
