Blindness won't prevent Xiao Yonghong from getting the college education he has dreamt of.

He registered on Friday at South China Normal University in Guangzhou. He took the entrance examination for admission to the university's Internet School on August 6 and will undertake a five-year curriculum in public administration.

"I was recruited on August 16, I was overjoyed to hear the news," beamed Xiao.

Xiao, 27, will initially study by listening to vocal teaching materials. Xing Tao, an official in charge of recruitment for the university, said the school would work out more feasible ways to teach Xiao in the future.

"Xiao's performance reaches the moderate level amongst the more than 80 applicants," Xing said. "We recruited 67 students altogether."

"As it is a long-distance education, students can finish their courses at home as long as they pass the final examination at the school," Xing said.

Xiao, a native of central China's Hunan Province, began losing his sight in 1992 because of atrophy of the optical nerve.

In 1996, he lost his sight completely and started to study blind massage in his hometown.

(China Daily August 23, 2005)