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Cai, the art student
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Cathy Tang
CAI ZHIYONG, a junior in Guangdong Teachers' Art School, never seems to worry about his homework.
"I gave a speech on art at the Children's Palace in Meizhou, my hometown, during the Spring Festival holiday. Nearly 1,000 children showed up. I can still feel their enthusiasm, " Cai said, as he prepared for a trip to Singapore. He was invited to the city-state by a Hakka community to help compile a pedigree of the Hakkas in that country.
Cai is an active volunteer, an has used his artistic expertise in ways like creating an exhibition guide for the Guangdong Art Museum or teaching art at the Guangzhou Baiyunshan Children's Palace.
"I consider community work to be part of my life's work," he said. "And I always learn something from doing it. Like a mirror, life always gives back what you put into it."
Cai's determination to make each day count can be traced to a miracle he experienced: he survived a fatal illness.
Exactly what the illness was, he will not say. He does say that he was bedridden as a boy, which prevented him from getting a standard education in his hometown of Meizhou, a city in east Guangdong. He began learning painting and calligraphy. Even when doctors pronounced his disease incurable, he continued to study. Indeed, he redoubled his artistic efforts in order, he says, to "forget the pain".
By chance, while thumbing through an old book handed down from his ancestors, he came across a cure for his illness. That miracle cure triggered his interest in collecting antiques. In 1998 he enrolled in the Guangdong Teachers' Art School. The following year he set up a profit-oriented studio in Shenzhen to do art promotion work. As if that weren't enough, he sometimes works as an anchor for radio stations, and is vice-president of an art community in Meizhou.
And just how productive is Cai?
Consider the following: He has won many prizes from school authorities; his paintings have been displayed in national art exhibitions; and many of his pupils at the Guangzhou Baiyunshan Children's Palace have themselves won awards in national children's art competitions.
When asked how he deals with the occasional conflicts between work and volunteering and its effect on his future plans, he simply replied by e-mail from Singapore, "My way of work: brain plus hands plus confidence. My plan: get enrolled in the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts or find a job."
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