Tianbao, heavenly treasure

Written by Ruth Li, Asia Opportunity

PR CHINA — When the Chens adopted a baby boy who had been abandoned by his parents, their relatives criticised them. The baby was visually impaired and the Chens’ family could not understand how they would care for him, particularly as they were not a wealthy couple.

But the Chens loved the baby, naming him Tianbao, which means ‘heavenly treasure’. In 1998, tired of the constant criticism from their family, they took Tianbao and moved from their home in Henan Province to Beijing. Wanting to give him all the opportunities they could, they were determined to send him to a special school for visually impaired children. One of their dreams was that Tianbao should be able to read the Braille Bible.

They worked hard, long hours as rag and bone collectors to make enough money to survive and save towards their dream. They succeeded, and today, Tianbao is 10 and is one of the brightest students in his class. He can read Braille very well, and uses this skill to read the Bible. His parents are proud of him, particularly as their young son is using his skill to help someone else, a man named Liu Baojie, to read the Bible in Braille.

Liu Baojie is 36 and has been blind since he was a teenager. As a young man he heard about Jesus and became a Christian. Despite being unable to read the Bible for himself, he shared the Gospel with his family, who also became Christians. He had always wanted to learn Braille and read the Bible, but he was unable to attend the school for the visually impaired because of his age.