Dancing anew

After a debilitating back injury, Liu Yan returns to the stage with a wheelchair and a new sense of her art, Chen Nan reports.

Liu Yan thought she would never dance again.

Considered one of China's leading classical dancers at the peak of a golden career, she severely injured her vertebrae during a rehearsal for the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. That left her paralyzed below the waist, and she had to bid farewell to the stage and adjust to life on wheelchair.