"Normal" people granted ability to hear!

Not only has a bill been drafted to lessen noise-pollution, but some lucky souls will soon be able to hear the silence.

“The city of Shanghai has created a 60,000 yuan (US$7,407) fund for hearing-impaired children under seven years to have an artificial cochlea transplant. Qualified children must be examined to confirm that their situation can't be improved by hearing-aids. They should also have a local residents' card, normal intelligence and be without character flaws.”

No, we don't know what character flaws are either, but we think it's surely a good thing to provide free health care. Oh, and by the way, parents will have to pay 50,000 RMB for the operation and 110,000 RMB for the "imported" artificial cochlea.

In the light of this, Shanghaiist is thinking of making a horror film not dissimilar to The Eye (Renee Zellweger's upcoming blockbuster), in which a person can hear the horrific stories of someone else's past. But then Hollywoodist would just steal the story and star a young buff(y) girl with deer-like eyes as the heroine. So we won't. Anyway, sorry to change the subject. Is that a character flaw? Can we still get our ear?

"Statistics indicate that the country has to invest 400,000 yuan annually for a deaf person," said Qiu Yamei, of the Shanghai Disabled Persons' Federation. "If these people can hear, speak and work, they can contribute to society."

And that's what it's all a-bout!