Students play musical instruments in Xinji Special Education School, N China's Hebei (9)

Student Wang Hede practices playing the drum set at the music classroom of Xinji Special Education School in Xinji, north China's Hebei Province, May 31, 2022. In the municipal special-education school of Xinji City, Hebei Province, a jazz drumming band named "Against the Wind" is making hopeful beats in world of silence. Founded in December 2018, the band is home to 10 students with hearing impairment or intellectual disability. The band has been undergoing systematic and hard training since its establishment and the endeavors paid off when the band made a stunning rendering in the city's cultural performance among primary and secondary school students. "I named the band 'Against the Wind' to encourage the students to hold onto their dreams, have the grit to face up to challenges and new things as well as fly bravely toward their bright futures," said Sun Shicha, a teacher of the special-education school and the organizer of the jazz drumming band. In 2020, the school created a specialized music classroom, where the band can carry out routine practices. So far, the drum band is able to perform some 10 pieces of music. "The drum band has an invisible and formative influence on teenagers," said Sun. "The students are seen with more resilience and confidence since they joined the band. Meanwhile, their ability in terms of coordination and comprehension have also greatly improved." (Xinhua/Luo Xuefeng)