Zu Wenbao is a 23-year-old Chinese villager with autism. He grew up in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang.
祖文宝是一名患有自闭症的23岁中国村民。他在东北的黑龙江省长大。
 
Autism is a developmental disability that makes it hard for some people to talk with others or learn social skills.
自闭症是一种发育障碍，使一些人难以与他人交谈或学习社交技能。
 
That means it can be hard for a person with autism to find a job or make friends. There are about 14 million people in China with the disorder. But it is not well known and there is not much support for people like Zu. He is nonverbal, which means he does not speak.
这意味着它自闭症患者可能很难找到工作或交朋友。中国大约有1400万人患有这种疾病。但知名度不高，像祖这样的人支持度不高。他是非语言的，这意味着他不会说话。
 
For Zu, the recent years of COVID-19 restrictions have been difficult.
对 Zu 来说，最近几年的 COVID-19 限制一直很艰难。
 
But he is doing better now that he is learning music and spending time with other young people at a school called Chen's Studio in Beijing.
但他现在做得更好，因为他正在北京一所名为 Chen's Studio 的学校学习音乐并与其他年轻人共度时光。
 
Chen's Studio started offering music lessons for people with autism when the pandemic started.
大流行开始后，陈氏工作室开始为自闭症患者提供音乐课程。
 
Zu's mother, Zhao Guorong, brings her son to the music school every Sunday so he can study with the teacher, Chen Shensi.
祖的母亲赵国荣每个星期天都会带儿子去音乐学校学习和陈深思老师一起。
 
It takes them two hours on three different buses to get to the classroom from their home outside of Beijing.
他们从北京郊外的家坐三辆不同的公交车到教室要花两个小时。
 
At the Beijing studio, Zu learned how to play the keyboards and sing in a band called "Star Kids."
在北京的工作室，祖在一个名为“Star Kids”的乐队中学习了如何弹奏键盘和唱歌。
 
"Without music, without these lessons, he wouldn't have anything," Zhao said. The children he grew up with, she said, all have jobs or go to school. She said her son would not have any people to socialize with if it were not for the music school.
“没有音乐，没有这些课程，他将一事无成，”赵说。她说，和他一起长大的孩子都有工作或上学。她说，如果不是音乐学校，儿子就没有人可以交往了。
 
Although Zu is older than the other young people at Chen's Studio, "they all take care of him like he's their brother," Zhao said.
尽管祖的年龄比陈氏工作室的其他年轻人大，“他们都像对待他一样照顾他他是他们的兄弟，”赵说。
 
China is making progress in teaching people about autism and offering more support for people like Zu. But experts say there are still millions of children who do not get social or educational support.
中国在向人们传授自闭症知识方面取得了进展，并为像祖这样的人提供更多支持。但专家表示，仍有数百万儿童得不到社会或教育支持。
 
Chen knows the young people with autism will have trouble getting jobs, so he hopes music will help them make a living. The Star Kids band has already played some concerts.
陈知道患有自闭症的年轻人很难找到工作，所以他希望音乐能帮助他们谋生。 Star Kids 乐队已经举办过一些音乐会。
 
He did not know much about autism before he started teaching a bass player with the disorder in 2020. So, when China put restrictions in place in the early days of the pandemic, and Chen could not teach his regular students anymore, he offered free lessons to those with autism.
在 2020 年开始教一名患有自闭症的贝司手之前，他对自闭症了解不多。所以，当中国早期实施限制时大流行，陈无法再教他的普通学生，他为自闭症患者提供免费课程。
 
"COVID has been hard, and I wanted to do as much as I can to give them joy through music," he said.
“COVID 一直很艰难，我想尽我所能给他们通过音乐获得快乐，”他说。
 
At the start, it was hard. Chen became frustrated when he had trouble communicating with his students. However, it eventually became easier. He said he knows it is hard for them to communicate.
一开始，这很艰难。陈在与学生交流时遇到困难时变得很沮丧。然而，它最终变得更容易了。他说他知道他们很难沟通。
 
But "to some degree, I think music might be their language."
但“在某种程度上，我认为音乐可能是他们的语言。”