"We were excited because our efforts paid off," said He. "The real challenge was how to make it possible."

Ou Dongyun, 20, a business student at Nanjing University, joined the team in March.

"Although our proposal was approved and supported by the Nanjing School for the Blind, the most difficult part for us was communicating with visually impaired students," Ou told Beijing Review.

"We thought too much at the very beginning. For instance, we didn't ask about their vision when we did statistics because we were afraid of hurting their self-respect," Ou recalled.

"But gradually, we discovered that the visually impaired, ages 11 to 19, were independent with a clear self-consciousness. The barriers and worries we preset didn't actually exist," Ou said. "We thought it would be better if we taught one of the visually impaired students to use a digital camera first and see whether it would work."

Tong Shunyu, 11, takes pictures with the assistance of a volunteer (COURTESY OF gong1chuang1.org)	A flying bird by 19-year-old Zhang Mingyue (COURTESY OF gong1chuang1.org)

On July 28, Ou and other volunteers took 11-year-old Tong Shunyu to the Xianfeng Bookstore for trial training. The result was beyond their expectations--Tong quickly learned on and off the camera, and took a picture of a photographer successfully.

"I heard the photographer press the camera shutter, so I pointed my camera in his direction and then pressed the shutter," Tong recalled. "I was told that my photo was successful. It was amazing and unbelievable, because I never thought I could take pictures one day."

From August 1 to 11, Tong and his nine peers took pictures at their schools, homes and local scenic spots, with the assistance of He's 32-member team.

"We just taught them how to use the camera, but they had their own methods. For instance, they would touch and smell a flower before taking pictures. We brought them to the local botanical garden because we thought it would be a good way to improve their connections with the outside world," said He.

"We were only responsible for their safety; they could shoot whatever they wanted," He added.

More miracles will happen

The exhibition debuted at the Xianfeng Bookstore on August 23. The four-day event attracted thousands of visitors.

"Students the same age as the visually impaired students told me they would participate in charitable activities like we did," said He. "I was happy about that, because I believe that charity awareness should be nurtured from childhood. Love and sharing are valuable to the whole community."

A week later, the second round of the exhibition was held at the Nanjing Library.

On December 1, two days before National Charity Day, He, together with two teammates and three visually impaired students, showed up at the opening ceremony for the second edition of the Yi Nuan Zhong Hua program in Beijing.

"What we did in Nanjing was just the beginning," Ou told Beijing Review. "I hope we can share our solutions and experiences with other university students via the Yi Nuan Zhong Hua program. It would be good to see visually impaired students across the country discover their capabilities and improve their self-confidence through the photography program."

"To be honest, there were some flaws in our program. For example, the photo review we gave to the visually impaired students was not clear enough--volunteers should use more vivid and exact words to describe the photos so that the students can do better," said He.

"It is good to see more college students take part in charitable activities. I think the 13th Paralympic Games held in Beijing this September helped increase awareness about living with disabilities," said He. "I do believe that the photography program for the visually impaired will get better promotion nationwide and more miracles will happen through the lens."