Editor’s note: In the spring of 2001, the following title headlined Fuzhou Evening News, a local newspaper in Fuzhou, Fujian Province: “An Annual Salary of Two Hundred Thousand Yuan Plus a Car, Former Headmaster of Tsinghua University High School is Now Principal of Fuzhou Jinshan Private Senior High School”. Many parents brought their children to the school, full of expectations. At that time, I was appointed as the school's deputy director of the political office (the position of director was temporarily vacant). As it was a new school, the clubs and organizations among the students were not perfect, and it was my responsibility to set up the school’s student union and youth league committee. The first representative meeting of the youth league committee was planned, and school leaders would like to invite a blind person who had just graduated from university to give a speech to the school representatives. So I went to the Macao Road of Fuzhou City to look for Chen Jun’en. He gladly accepted the invitation from the school and gave a touching inspirational speech to all representatives of the school's youth league committee... That is how I got to know him.
Born in 1963, Chen Jun’en, a native of Fuzhou, was born in an ordinary worker’s family. His father, Chen Cuntan, was the third generation inheritor of Fuzhou’s century-old shop, “Tongli Meat Swallow”. His elder brother, Chen Junfan, becomes the fourth-generation master of the intangible culture.
Chen loved music from childhood. At the age of five or six, he would watch a phonograph keep spinning, listen to the songs from it and learn to sing the songs. In the first grade of primary school, he learned to play the bamboo flute from his brother. When he was in the fourth grade, he found a harmonica in his brother’s box and a book named How to Learn Numbered Musical Notation. That was the beginning of his self-study of music.
Only three months after his first day in junior high school, his vision began to blur and he could not read books anymore. The fourteen-year-old boy sat in the classroom, looking at the blurry scene from the window, unable to understand what the teacher was talking about. He felt extremely sad. When he was in such a mood, these words came to his mind: “Give me back my vision, give me back my youth, and give me back the source of wisdom and intelligence!”
After being blind, Chen was determined to become a useful person by relying on his faith and persistence. With a love for music, he had a guitar teacher giving him special lessons. At that time, his family was not rich, but his father still bought him a guitar because he loved him dearly. His brother bought him a piano at a cost of 3,000 yuan and introduced a professional music teacher to him. He learned that Changchun University enrolls blind students and was successfully admitted to that university through his efforts.
After graduating from the Music Department of the Special Education College of Changchun University in 1991, he was assigned to work as a music teacher in the school for the blind in Fuzhou, where he taught singing to children from primary school to high school. He also set up courses to teach the guitar, electronic organ and other instruments to interest groups. He organized and carried out various activities to help the disabled. He also serves as a member of the 10th CPPCC of Fujian Province and put forward a proposal to send teachers to teach in the homes of severely disabled children, which is implemented in all regions of Fujian Province. He wrote many popular musical works and trained a number of musicians who have graduated from the school for the blind. His students have won six national awards and eight provincial awards. Four of them have been admitted to higher education institutions of music, and five have become the backbone performers of the "Fujian Provincial Disabled People’s Art Troupe".
Chen, who is a disabled person and a volunteer, has organized a provincial team of volunteers to help the disabled and called for suggestions for the cause of helping the disabled. The "Municipal Association for the Blind" led by him has cooperated with volunteer associations to carry out various forms of charity programs to help the disabled and lead the blind out of their houses into nature, guide the blind to achieve barrier-free reading, etc. He has also instructed the blind on smartphone usage and enjoying the convenience brought by scientific and technological advancements.
“Every life has value,” said Chen, chairman of the Fuzhou Blind Association and a member of the 10th Fujian Provincial People’s Political Consultative Conference. “People with disabilities can also live a wonderful life and make a difference.”
As the lyrics of his song “The Living Water of Love Comes From the Sky” has it, “Love is a silent language, the living water of love comes from the sky”. His life is the true portrayal of “once I was blind, now I can see”.
- Translated by Nicolas Cao
编者按：2001年春天，在《福州晚报》头版头条的位置上，以“二十万年薪加一辆轿车，清华大学附中校长任福州金山私立高级中学校长”,不少家长满怀期待带着子女入校学习，随之我也被应聘该校政治处副主任（主任暂缺），因为是初办的学校，学生中的群团组织都没健全，组建学校学生会、团委会工作便落在我身上，学校召开首次团员代表会，学校领导想联系一位刚从大学毕业的盲人来校为团代表作一场报告，受命的我来到福州城里三坊七巷澳门路陈君恩的家，他欣然接受学校的邀请，为学校团代会全体代表作了一场感人的励志报告………也从此认识了陈君恩。
1963年出生的陈君恩，是土生土长的福州人，出生在一个普通的工人家庭。父亲陈存谈是福州百年老铺“同利肉燕”的第三代传承人，哥哥陈君凡是福州非物质文化“同利肉燕”第四代掌门人。陈君恩从小就喜欢音乐，五六岁的他，看着留声机转啊转啊，听着听着，里面的歌曲他便学唱了下来。小学一年级时，向哥哥学吹竹笛。读四年级时，从他哥哥的箱子里找到一把口琴，还有一本《怎样学简谱》的书，就这么开始了音乐自学之路。
初一仅读了三个月，视力就开始模糊，眼睛已经看不见书本上的字了。14岁的陈君恩坐在教室里，眼睛看着窗外一片模糊的景象，无心听老师讲课，心里难过极了。这样的情绪下，陈君恩脑海中涌现出这么几句话：“还我光明，还我青春，还我聪明才智的源泉”。
双目失明后，陈君恩依靠自身信念和坚持，立志要变成有用的人。失明的他得到了社会上许多人的帮助，喜欢音乐的他，有吉他老师专门为他授课；当年家里还不富裕父亲的爱为他买了吉他、哥哥花3000元为他买一台钢琴，还介绍了一位专业音乐老师给陈；他得知长春大学招收盲人，顺利考上这所大学。
1991年从长春大学特殊教育学院音乐系毕业后，他被分配到福州市盲校担任音乐教师，在盲校，他教小学到高中的孩子唱歌。还开设了兴趣小组课程教吉他、电子琴等乐器。组织开展多种助残活动。还曾担任福建省第十届政协委员，提出为重度残障儿童送教上门的提案，并被全省实施。他写了不少脍炙人口的音乐作品，培养了一批又一批从盲校走出来的音乐人。他的学生6次获国家级奖，8次获省级奖，有4名考入音乐高等学府，5名成为福建省残疾人艺术团骨干演员。
陈自己是残疾人，也是助残志愿者，他组织了省助残志愿者团队，呼吁为助残事业建言献策。他带领的市盲协与志愿者社团合作，开展了形式多样的爱心助残项目。带领盲人走出家门走进大自然，指引盲人实现无障碍阅读。他还指导盲人使用智能手机，享受科技成果带来的便捷。
陈是福州盲人协会主席、第十届福建省政协委员，他说，“每个生命都有价值，残障人士也能活出精彩、有所作为”。
他创作的歌曲《爱的活水从天来》中歌词写道，“爱是无声的语言，爱的活水从天而来”。他的一生正是“从前我是眼瞎的，如今能看见了”的真实写照，正是有爱就有光明！
（照片均由陈君恩老师提供）
爱的活水让他重见光明———记福州盲校高级音乐教师陈君恩
Editor’s note: In the spring of 2001, the following title headlined Fuzhou Evening News, a local newspaper in Fuzhou, Fujian Province: “An Annual Salary of Two Hundred Thousand Yuan Plus a Car, Former Headmaster of Tsinghua University High School is Now Principal of Fuzhou Jinshan Private Senior High School”. Many parents brought their children to the school, full of expectations. At that time, I was appointed as the school's deputy director of the political office (the position of director was temporarily vacant). As it was a new school, the clubs and organizations among the students were not perfect, and it was my responsibility to set up the school’s student union and youth league committee. The first representative meeting of the youth league committee was planned, and school leaders would like to invite a blind person who had just graduated from university to give a speech to the school representatives. So I went to the Macao Road of Fuzhou City to look for Chen Jun’en. He gladly accepted the invitation from the school and gave a touching inspirational speech to all representatives of the school's youth league committee... That is how I got to know him.
Born in 1963, Chen Jun’en, a native of Fuzhou, was born in an ordinary worker’s family. His father, Chen Cuntan, was the third generation inheritor of Fuzhou’s century-old shop, “Tongli Meat Swallow”. His elder brother, Chen Junfan, becomes the fourth-generation master of the intangible culture.
Chen loved music from childhood. At the age of five or six, he would watch a phonograph keep spinning, listen to the songs from it and learn to sing the songs. In the first grade of primary school, he learned to play the bamboo flute from his brother. When he was in the fourth grade, he found a harmonica in his brother’s box and a book named How to Learn Numbered Musical Notation. That was the beginning of his self-study of music.
Only three months after his first day in junior high school, his vision began to blur and he could not read books anymore. The fourteen-year-old boy sat in the classroom, looking at the blurry scene from the window, unable to understand what the teacher was talking about. He felt extremely sad. When he was in such a mood, these words came to his mind: “Give me back my vision, give me back my youth, and give me back the source of wisdom and intelligence!”
After being blind, Chen was determined to become a useful person by relying on his faith and persistence. With a love for music, he had a guitar teacher giving him special lessons. At that time, his family was not rich, but his father still bought him a guitar because he loved him dearly. His brother bought him a piano at a cost of 3,000 yuan and introduced a professional music teacher to him. He learned that Changchun University enrolls blind students and was successfully admitted to that university through his efforts.
After graduating from the Music Department of the Special Education College of Changchun University in 1991, he was assigned to work as a music teacher in the school for the blind in Fuzhou, where he taught singing to children from primary school to high school. He also set up courses to teach the guitar, electronic organ and other instruments to interest groups. He organized and carried out various activities to help the disabled. He also serves as a member of the 10th CPPCC of Fujian Province and put forward a proposal to send teachers to teach in the homes of severely disabled children, which is implemented in all regions of Fujian Province. He wrote many popular musical works and trained a number of musicians who have graduated from the school for the blind. His students have won six national awards and eight provincial awards. Four of them have been admitted to higher education institutions of music, and five have become the backbone performers of the "Fujian Provincial Disabled People’s Art Troupe".
Chen, who is a disabled person and a volunteer, has organized a provincial team of volunteers to help the disabled and called for suggestions for the cause of helping the disabled. The "Municipal Association for the Blind" led by him has cooperated with volunteer associations to carry out various forms of charity programs to help the disabled and lead the blind out of their houses into nature, guide the blind to achieve barrier-free reading, etc. He has also instructed the blind on smartphone usage and enjoying the convenience brought by scientific and technological advancements.
“Every life has value,” said Chen, chairman of the Fuzhou Blind Association and a member of the 10th Fujian Provincial People’s Political Consultative Conference. “People with disabilities can also live a wonderful life and make a difference.”
As the lyrics of his song “The Living Water of Love Comes From the Sky” has it, “Love is a silent language, the living water of love comes from the sky”. His life is the true portrayal of “once I was blind, now I can see”.
- Translated by Nicolas Cao
Chen Jun’en, Christian Music Teacher in Fuzhou Blind School
