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Some 20 visually impaired people Wednesday came to Wangfujing Avenue, the capital's busiest downtown commercial street, to "see" a sculpture exhibition with their fingers. "It's a corn cob, I think. It's so real," Zhao Jinfeng, 37, murmured to herself in an animated tone as she carefully ran her fingers over an exhibit displayed in the ongoing exhibition, "Windfrom Western China", which was opened here on August 18. "Touch this. It's a scarf. They wear it on their heads to keep out wind and sand. And this is a whip to drive donkeys," said a young volunteer as he described the exhibits to Zhao and guided her around the exhibition. Zhao said because of her lifelong blindness she has never been able to work out how a cow pulls a cart and what pastures and cattle look like. "But today, when I was touching them, I formed a picture in my mind. I believe I saw them," she said excitedly. Zhao was one of these special visitors who are all from the Beijing Disabled Persons Association. Zou Wen, secretary-general of the Exhibition Organizing Committee, said by inviting blind people he hoped to convince the public that everyone has the right to appreciate arts. "To appreciate sculptures you need to touch them as well as look at them," said the secretary-general from the Statuary Committee of Chinese Artists' Association, adding that a piece of real sculpture needs to be touched and should stand up to being touched. He said viewers are welcome to touch most of the exhibits. Only about 10 works, made of wood or delicately painted and roped off, may not be touched. Exhibits on display include more than 120 masterpieces from over 100 outstanding sculptors from more than 20 provinces and municipalities. Organized by Chinese Artists' Association, the show aims to give wide publicity to Western China, to show its charm as well asto promote public interest in the area. "This is the first time we have visited a sculpture exhibition," said Mr. Li, a member of the association. "We used to regard sculptures as something precious that could not be touched," he said. He said he and his blind friends are grateful to the organizing committee for thinking about them and giving them a chance to learn about western China. Zhao Shuchun, secretary-general of the Beijing Disabled Persons Social Commonweal Promotion Association, said, all the members were excited about this trip as few such chances had been offered them. The organizing committee also provided the blind visitors with travel allowance and bottled mineral water. As some people may doubt whether the blind can understand the meaning of sculptures, Zou Wen explained that putting too much attention on the appearance of sculptures sometimes restricted theviewer's imagination and restricted their creative thinking. "With this point of view, the blind can be said to have special advantages that other people don't have and can get more pleasure from pieces of sculpture. Heartfelt appreciation of their work brings joy to sculptors," Zou said, smiling. Mr. Li, who has worked as a masseur for more than 10 years, said, "Although my eyes can't see sculptures, my heart can. These sculptures are really lifelike. For example, when I am touching one of the children's faces, I know if he is smiling." Li said referring to a group of sculptures named "School Aged Children Outside A Classroom". The blind viewers were under spotlight in Wangfujing Avenue on the day. Other visitors made way for them and some even helped volunteers to guide them and explain the show for them. After its debut in Beijing, the exhibition will be staged in more than 10 major cities including Xi'an, Shanghai, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Shenzhen and Qingdao. The nationwide tour of the exhibition will last nearly six months. "It is a long march of Chinese sculptures. We hope that the blind all over the country will be able to feel this exhibition," said Zou.