I have a sister, but I'm not a spoiled child of excess, even though I was born in an age when the family planning policy was followed strictly. Whenever I talk with peers about the topic, I add that my sister is blind.

I have never felt it was shameful to have a sister who is blind. We love each other deeply and I am proud to announce that she is blind

One day, a colleague told me about a film called “Touch of the Light,” which tells the story of the blind. My colleague advised me to see it, so I did. I watched it in tears; the film is told from the perspective of a seeing person who has a blind sister. There were many details in the film that truly reflect the reality and life of my sister and me.

Yu Xiang, the film's protagonist, is a blind boy who has a younger sister, just as I have an elder sister who is blind.

In the beginning of the movie, the younger sister played games with Yu Xiang. The game was to listen to the voice of the car engine and guess whose car it was. My sister told me that there was no kindergarten that would accept her when she was a child, and she could only be locked in the house every time my parents went to work. My sister created fun by stretching out on the windowsill so that she could hear the sounds of the daily world. One of the first sounds she identified was Uncle Wang’s old-fashioned bicycle, and then Uncle Li's Phoenix brand bike.

While watching the “car guessing game” scene in the movie, I suddenly burst into tears. At that time, my elder sister was even lonelier than Yu Xiang!

In the movie, Yu Xiang's mother and father are preparing to send him off to school when suddenly Yu Xiang squeezes his father's hand and stares into his stoic eyes. His father stands there with a blank expression on his face, turning over soil with his free hand and reminding the mother to fill up the car with gas and drive safely. He doesn't even speak to Yu Xiang.

It was just a small detail in the movie, but I could relate to the moods of the three people on the screen. My sister is ten years older than me. When I was in primary school, she had to go away to learn massage. I don't remember when my sister left, but I remember the train station. I loathed parting with my sister when she had to go away. I didn't want to leave the train car. I wanted to sit beside her and cuddle with her as I watched my mother walking up and down, asking people one by one if they would please take care of her blind daughter on the journey.

Dad would usually stand at the door of the car and refuse to come in. He would just tell the conductor to take good care of my sister. When he finished, he would move to the back of the platform and watch my sister through the window, wiping his tears as they fell down his face. I would tell my sister that my father was standing outside and crying. Now, I look back and feel a stab of pain as I recall the expression on my father's face.

I remembered my mother's gray hairs and could feel that she was reluctant and sad. I felt depressed and hated myself for not growing up quickly enough to protect my sister. I swore that I would not let my sister suffer any hardship, but it was my sister who took care of me over the years as she would be the first person I would confide in when I felt I'd been wronged.

I don't remember the plot of the movie or how the protagonist pursued his dreams, but the little details made me think very deeply, because I’d had had such a real experience with my own sister.

Just like when Yu Xiang was abandoned by his school classmates, he walked alone to class and was abused by his classmates. I saw my sister suffer so many hardships and difficulties at school and work, but she was always strong enough to shoulder herself. When I saw that Yu Xiang was disliked by students and he went back to his mother saying that he wanted to try to walk from the dormitory to the classroom by himself, it struck me that my sister probably suffered many injustices that she never told us about. She was optimistic and strong, just like Yu Xiang.

“Touch of the Light” is an indie pop movie, but the lighting and effects have already blurred in my memory. Yu Xiang had a father, a mother and a younger sister. And I have a sister, but I'm not a child of excess. I love my sister and am happy to tell people that she's blind.