(FILE)

Zhou Wei, a contestant on Super Brain, a talent show that screens on Jiangsu Satellite TV, amazed the audience on January 17 by successfully solving a difficult math problem, while also being much faster than the professor and mathematician on the show.

Zhou, 23, was born in a small village in north China's Shanxi Province and subjected to a strange disease that involved frequent seizures since he was six months old. Although his seizures miraculously stopped after he turned 9, Zhou has ended up having a mild difficulty in communicating with others and was diagnosed as moderately "mentally retarded" by a Beijing hospital.

Zhou went to school at the age of 10 but he dropped out when turning 15. He showed his talent in complex calculations from a young age and has since helped with bookkeeping at his family's grocery store.