PEOPLE/POINTS

Warm-hearted Philanthropist

Guo Mingyi, a 52-year-old worker from the Anshan Iron and Steel Group in northeast China’s Liaoning Province, has become a household name in China because of his altruism. President Hu Jintao has called on people around the country to follow Guo’s example.

Since 1990, Guo has donated 60,000 milliliters of blood during 54 sessions, in all the total volume contained in 10 adult bodies and enough to save 75 lives. He also founded two blood-donation clubs in Anshan that now have a total of 800 members and persuaded another 1,700 people to donate lifesaving hematopoietic stem cells to people with blood cancer.

“I did not do this to get famous,” Guo said. “It’s just some people need some help, and there should be someone there to give them a hand.”

Guo is also known for his generosity in assisting colleagues and supporting students from poor families. Since 1994, he has donated about 120,000 yuan ($17,910) to more than 180 recipients.

A Musical Wunderkind

Chinese piano prodigy Zhang Shengliang,nicknamed Niu Niu, received the Prix Montblanc 2010 in Germany on October 6.

Born into a family of musicians in Xiamen,southeast China’s Fujian Province on July 11, 1997,Zhang showed his talent for classical music at a very young age. He received his first piano lessons at 3 and made his concert debut at 6. After displaying early brilliance in mastering Bach’s sophisticated Goldberg Variations at 9, he was awarded the Young Artist of the Year 2009 award at Germany’s Festival der Nationen at 12.

As the youngest person to have recorded all of Chopin’s etudes,Zhang’s staggering technical skills and his unprecedented musical maturity have stunned equally critics and the public.

In 2007, Zhang signed with the renowned music company EMI,becoming the company’s youngest exclusive contracted pianist. The CD Niu Niu Plays Chopin: The Complete Etudes was released in May 2010,following his first Niu Niu Plays Mozart in 2008.

Zhang has been studying in the Walnut Hill School for the Arts at the New England Conservatory in Boston since September under the tutelage of his mentor William Chen. Besides the piano, Zhang is also interested in the violin, conducting and composing.

Cold-blooded Murderer

Li Lei, the culprit in a family killing in Beijing last year, was sentenced to death by the Beijing No.1 Intermediate People’s Court on October 15.Also, Li was ordered to pay 3.43 million yuan($504,000) in compensation to the victims’ family∶ his two grandmothers and the parents of his wife.

Li, 30, stabbed his wife, parents, younger sister and two sons to death at their home in Daxing District on November 23, 2009. He was arrested in Sanya in southern Hainan Province a week after the murders.

Li said he had thought of killing his family because they were harsh on him.

Li was handed back to prosecutors on murder charges in July after psychiatric assessments proved him normal enough to face charges.