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Zhang elected new Chairperson of CDPF
(CFP/Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-11-14 11:59


Click the picture to read our archive story on Zhang Haidi in March 1983.

On Thursday, she was elected the chairperson of the China Disabled Persons' Federation (CDPF).

Writer and translator Zhang Haidi, 53, replaced Deng Pufang, who will serve as honorary chairman.

Although her election came as a surprise to many people, Zhang was greeted by thunderous applause when the announcement was made at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing at the closing session of the CDPF's fifth national congress.

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A Shandong native, Zhang was diagnosed with a spinal tumor when she was five. Three surgical procedures to remove the tumor left her paralyzed from the chest down. Against all odds and with help and encouragement from her parents, she set out to live her motto: "As long as I live, I shall be useful to society."

Zhang taught herself to read and write and later gravitated to medicine, painting and such foreign languages as English, Japanese, German and Esperanto.