Ten years ago, Shanghai Daily visited the Shanghai School for the Blind and interviewed six students, an incoming class of preschoolers. All were totally blind, with no memory of sight.

They were premature infants whose retinas were damaged or did not develop.

They had no idea what the world “looked” like.

In the run-up to International White Cane Safety Day (October 15), a day for the blind and visually impaired, Shanghai Daily revisited the public school in Changning District and interviewed five of the six children, now in middle school. One girl has left.

How are they doing? What have they learned? What do they think of the world? What are their dreams?

Some have a clear purpose, some are thinking about what lies ahead and what they will do.

Employment prospects have improved — it’s no longer limited to doing blind massage or working in a library for the blind. Still, most do go into massage or work in sheltered workshops.

The school, with more than 200 students, covers kindergarten, primary, middle and high schools, as well as vocational school. It was founded in 1912 by British missionary and educator John Fryer.

It is the only such public school for the blind in Shanghai, a city of 22 million people.

Shanghai has nearly 160,000 blind registered residents, representing 16 percent of all people with disabilities in the city.

China has around 5 million blind people, defined as being unable to walk unaided.

After graduation, most students find a job and do not pursue higher education. “Today students have more options, such as opening online stores or becoming piano tuners,” said a school administrator surnamed Han.

‘I really don’t have much self-confidence’

Chen Yanjing, 16, is the eldest of the children interviewed, but also the shyest. Between classes, while her classmates are talking and joking around, she always sits alone in the last row of the classroom, her face buried in her arms.

“To be honest, I don’t really have much self-confidence,” she said in a tiny voice.

Her introverted personality was already formed in kindergarten, her teachers said. Ten years ago, she hardly spoke or smiled, causing teachers to worry that she might be autistic. Children with disabilities are more likely to be autistic than other children.

Today it’s clear she is not autistic, but Chen is still too shy to socialize.

She is now trying to prepare for high school examinations next year but is worried that her poor math skills will hold her back.

“My English is better, but not as good as Chu Chu (Lin Quanchu)’s, and my math is just terrible,” she said very softly.

Although she is in the same class with Lin Quanchu and Yin Tianyou, she doesn’t talk to them anymore. Like the others, she remembers little about what happened 10 years ago, just that when she was young, music made her happy.

“I loved to sing along,” she said, her face muffled in her arms.

‘I want to be an English-Chinese Braille translator’

Lin Quanchu, 14, is a whiz at Braille and she reads and writes very fast.

English is her favorite subject, and her best.

“My dream is to be an English-Chinese translator,” she said.

These days she is preparing for the high school entrance examination next year.

Lin starts to learn Braille since she was in first grade and language is natural — she’s a born communicator in Chinese or English.

“Actually, just a half year after I started to learn Braille, I could read and write quite fast,” she said with pride. “It’s all about the basics.”

When she was younger, she used to daydream about future possibilities, but translating was always the most enchanting dream.

“In fact, the Braille for English and Chinese isn’t much different, believe it or not,” she said, opening her big, thick English textbook and starting to read.

Lin is very talkative and sociable. She’s not afraid of speaking in front of her class and likes to joke around teasing her friends. She is very close to children in her class, including the twin brothers.

“I don’t remember much about the past 10 years,” she said. “Sometimes happy, sometimes sad, but after all, everything was quite smooth.”

‘I want to be a blind photographer — We can’t see but we can feel’

Yin Tianbao, a 14-year-old identical twin, wants to be a “blind photographer” when he graduates.

“We can’t see, but we can feel,” Tianbao said. “First, I would touch the object I want to shoot, then I would estimate the distance and angle before pressing the shutter.”

He said he “loves photography.”

His second choice would be becoming a blind masseur.

His identical twin Yin Tianyou said he doesn’t yet know what he wants to do when he graduates.

He first has to pass the high school entrance exam.

The twins have been blind since infancy because of premature delivery.

Their parents were unable to afford extra care, so Tianbao was raised by his parents, while Tianyou by grandparents.

Although they look almost exactly alike, they have very different personalities. Tianbao is more open and cheerful, Tianyou is quieter.

Ten years ago, they enrolled at the same time, but now Tianyou is one grade higher than Tianbao.

That’s because Tianbao broke his arm several years ago and it was so serious that he had to stay home for half a year.

“So now Tianyou is preparing for his high school entrance examinations, but I have another year to go,” Tianbao said.

Like most of the boys his age, Tianbao loves PC games.

“There are games especially designed for blind people,” he explained. “They give you verbal instructions and sound effects, so we can play the games by listening.”

Tianyou said his pastime is listening to pop music.

Neither boy remembers much about kindergarten or what they were feeling 10 years ago.

Raised apart, the boys squabble a lot.

Tianbao claims he doesn’t like his brother, saying his quieter sibling seems to hate him because he has more friends. There’s a lot of bickering.

Despite all that, Tianbao’s actions demonstrate caring for his brother. When the two boys leave their dormitory for school in the morning, Tianbao is very protective. If Tianyou doesn’t follow him closely on the path, he stops, tugs on his brother’s arm and orders grumpily, “Just follow me.”

While Tianbao is thinking of photography or massage, Tianyou is undecided.

“I’m going to high school next year, so the most urgent task for me now is to pass the examinations and get as high a score as possible,” he said.

‘I want to open an online store’

Fourteen- year-old Huang Jiayi is already studying e-commerce in vocational school, skipping junior school with her friends from kindergarten.

Ten years ago, she loved to shake her head and swing her two long pigtails. Since she couldn’t sense light — her world is completely “dark” — long-term shaking didn’t cause dizziness or vertigo.

Today her pursuits are more directed. “I want to open an online store,” she said.

Huang uses software designed for the blind, using verbal instructions in order to type.

“Most stores opened by blind people sell spectacles and eye care products, according to our teacher, but I haven’t quite figured out what kind of business I want to do. After all, I’m still learning computer skills, and it’s kind of hard to know yet,” she said.

Huang lives at home and her father takes her to and from school each day, though home is a bit far away. She said it’s better for her this way because she has a “weak constitution” and easily falls ill.

Since she isn’t a boarding student, with her kindergarten friends, they don’t have much contact with each other.

She loves music but says she isn’t confident enough to choose piano tuning; she thinks it’s too difficult for her.

“It’s not like playing the piano, but fixing a piano,” she said. “It isn’t something I think I can do.”

She enjoys reading the Bible and goes to church every Sunday with her grandmother. Her parents are not believers but she started attending church when she was seven. She was baptized next year.

Her faith is important and sustaining in a world that isn’t friendly to people with disabilities.

She said her biggest revelation is what she calls her “absolute dependence on God” and willingness to entrust her future to the higher power.

“He will lead the way,” she said.