Known as a "genius conductor", he has appeared on the Spring Festival Gala, worked with Andy Lau; his experience has been made into documentaries, and he has been invited to perform in many countries around the world. This person with this series of well-known "achievements" and well-known titles is a congenitally stupid patient, his name is Zhouzhou.
This name, most people who have experienced the 80s will have an impression, because he often appears on the TV screen, people turn on the TV often see the boat in the music program, some fat body, the baton in his hand dancing with the music passion.
Due to his frequent appearance on TV shows for interviews and publicity, many people know his deeds and are also excited about the inspirational life of this child.
But after more than 20 years, Zhouzhou rarely appears in front of the public eye, and the name "Zhouzhou" is no longer familiar to today's children. There are even rumors that Zhouzhou does not understand music at all, and that the so-called "genius conductor" is just a hoax and lie created by man.
Thunderbolt on a sunny day, bleak on earth
On April 1, 1978, in the eager anticipation of a pair of parents, a boy was born, and the birth of this child made the parents in their nearly forties extremely happy. However, happiness is so short-lived, as if The April Fool's Day God had made a big joke on them.
Just a month later, they were told by doctors that their newborn son turned out to be an irreversible congenitally stupid patient, and that people with this disease were more used as "mentally handicapped" in their daily lives, and that in China, the probability of suffering from this disease was one in 5 million, but the probability of the disease really coming was one hundred percent.
How difficult the living environment of this type of group is self-evident, and Zhouzhou's mother, as a machine tool factory doctor, knows better, what kind of eyes will he receive from the people around him in the future? How does he make a living in this society?
Extreme anxiety and pain overwhelmed the last psychological defense of a mother, who at one point held the child and even wanted to die with him, but fortunately, Zhouzhou's father saved her and decided to carry it all.
Compared with a mentally sound child, it takes much more energy to take care of a disabled child, the family is not rich, Zhouzhou's parents also have to work to support the family, and the child's grandparents can only come to help take care of Zhouzhou.
Despite the dedicated care of her family, Zhouzhou inevitably suffered a lot and was hurt.
Once a child of the same age played, was seen by the child's mother, the child's mother loudly reprimanded the child, saying that the boat is mentally retarded, how can you play with this kind of person? Even once, on a rainy autumn day, Zhouzhou was stripped naked by several big children around him, leaving him alone on the side of the road, his toys were often robbed, and the friends he wanted to play with laughed at him and beat him.
In Zhouzhou's childhood, such incidents occurred from time to time. And this makes the boat, which is already fragile, even more helpless, often hiding in the corner and crying.
The discrimination and bullying suffered by Zhouzhou, Mom and Dad saw it in their eyes and were anxious in their hearts. For the sake of his son, Zhouzhou's father often found other people's parents to come to the door theory, and sometimes even beat up. However, they can still protect the boat now, and if they can't take care of him, how will the boat survive?
Fame rises in the face of extinction
In order to let Zhouzhou grow up healthy and happy, try to avoid unfriendly eyes around him, and do not let him be hurt, the family let him stay around and try to have as little contact with the outside world.
Zhouzhou's father is a double bass player who works in the Wuhan Symphony Orchestra, and since Zhouzhou was two or three years old, he has taken Zhouzhou to the orchestra with him to watch the orchestra rehearse. The long-term life of the orchestra makes the musicians of the orchestra very familiar with the boat.
One day, during the break, the musicians joked with Zhouzhou, asking Zhouzhou if he wanted to be a conductor, Zhouzhou said "want", and then climbed onto the podium and imitated the movements of the old conductor of the orchestra.
Zhouzhou very much likes the days of the orchestra, the rehearsal performance of the orchestra he did not fall, followed rain or shine, and often in the background with the orchestra's performance to do the conducting action, it is Zhouzhou's love for the conductor, so that his life ushered in a turnaround.
In 1997, a TV station director found Zhouzhou, who was conducting with the orchestra, outside the Wuhan Symphony Hall, and after learning about Zhouzhou's situation, he decided to shoot a documentary for Zhouzhou to record the extraordinary wisdom and talent of this mentally handicapped teenager.
Ten months later, "The World of Boats" came out, and it was this documentary that made Boats famous and became a star in Wuhan.
"The World of Boats" obviously brings more than that to Boats.
In 1998, after seeing the documentary, the chairman of the Disabled Persons' Federation at that time invited Zhouzhou to participate in the Disabled Persons' Federation's New Year Gala; in 1999, Zhouzhou stepped onto the stage of the Disabled Persons' Federation's New Year Gala, which was also his first official stage performance and achieved great success.
Since then, Zhouzhou has embarked on a path of unlimited scenery as a conductor, tv stations have rushed to report his deeds, and Zhouzhou has become a well-known star at that time.
In May 2000, Zhouzhou and China's top symphony orchestra, the China Opera House Symphony Orchestra, performed in the Great Hall of the People, and stars such as Andy Lau and Schwarzenegger also participated in the charity evening, because they were deeply moved by Zhouzhou's experience, schwarzenegger even donated 150,000 US dollars on the spot.
Grand deception scenery is no more
Zhouzhou's busy conductor life lasted for several years.
In the most popular years, Zhouzhou's performances reached more than 100 times a year, and he was invited to visit and perform abroad, but after a few years, the dividends brought by the dazzling aura of "genius conductor" did not last, and the performances of Zhouzhou Orchestra gradually decreased until there was no one to ask for it.
In the more than ten years of silence, Zhouzhou experienced various blows such as the death of his mother, his own serious illness, and his father was also old and had diabetes, which made Zhouzhou's father Hu Houpei more worried about Zhouzhou's future life.
In 2016, Zhouzhou joined the Shenzhen Disabled People's Art Troupe, occasionally participated in some orchestra performances, father and son lived in a 20 square meter room, there were only two beds, a sofa and a TV set in the room, the conditions were not good, but Zhouzhou loved group life, liked orchestra performances, and his father stayed with him in the orchestra.
As the aura of the boat gradually faded, some people kept making some questioning noises.
Some people pointed out that Zhouzhou did not understand music at all, did not understand conducting, he only followed the rhythm of the music to the rhythm of the body, when he conducted, the musicians of the orchestra did not look at him at all, let alone play with his conducting rhythm.
It has also been pointed out that as a congenitally stupid patient, he simply does not have the ability to conduct an orchestra, and his fame is nothing more than a hype that uses people's sympathy, and Zhouzhou is just a tool used by the driving force behind the scenes to make profits.
Later, the members of the orchestra who had worked with Zhouzhou also admitted that each performance was completed after the conductor rehearsal, and then Zhouzhou performed according to the rhythm.
In the face of the public's doubts, Zhouzhou's father, Hu Houpei, frankly said in the media: Thank you for playing with Zhouzhou. Hu Houpei himself was born as a music major and knows that Zhouzhou's performance standards are famous and difficult to match, but he thanked everyone for playing a game with Zhouzhou for more than 20 years, which made Zhouzhou happy.
brief summary:
Becoming a congenitally stupid patient is the misfortune of Zhouzhou, but the occurrence of all these dramatic events has also allowed Zhouzhou to obtain a brilliant life that most congenital foolish patients cannot have. Although the scenery is no longer glamorous, he is already happier than most of these patients.
The radiant "genius conductor" is nothing more than a lie, and now it seems to be a foregone conclusion. Behind this lie, whether it is people who sincerely hope to help Zhouzhou, or whether it is the driving force behind the use of Zhouzhou for profit, the truth is difficult to explore.
But how to give the vulnerable groups a friendly living space, so that they also have a secure and dignified life, perhaps we should continue to explore.