Excellence by ear: Blind student reaches for her dream

At age 6, Cai heard guzheng music playing on her father's car radio and began developing a keen interest in the instrument, whose sound has been compared to gurgling water.

She started to learn the guzheng, but it took far more time for her to master the instrument than it did normal children.

"When I was little, it took me a month to practice a 3- to 4-minute piece, and three months to practice a 7- to 8-minute piece, depending on its difficulty," she said.

"The biggest challenge for me is memorizing the music score. A normal person can watch and play, while I have to learn all the scores by heart."

Cai said she had to memorize the 21 strings of the instrument and the distances between them as well. With tremendous amounts of repeated practice and exceptional talent, Cai formed muscle memory to help her play and gradually mastered it. She earned a Level 10 guzheng certificate at age 16, and won several national musical competitions in recent years.