Published: Saturday, December 11, 2010
“Scientists have much to say about the brain, but they would surely stand mute before Kristin Qian.
When Kristin was a week old, her mother heard her humming through her baby monitor. That was Li Dai’s first inkling that she and her husband had an unusual child.”
“More inklings followed. At 1 1/2, Kristin learned to read; at 2, she had her first solo painting exhibition, at Portland French School. At 3, possessing perfect pitch, she could sing any theme she heard. At 4, she performed in her first violin concert; at 5, she won a national piano competition. The same year, she had her first composition published in a national magazine.
At 7, she corresponded with President George W. Bush, who now owns one of her paintings. She won her first local piano competition at 8; at 10, she became the youngest finalist at the Tureck International Piano Competition in New York City. Also at 10, her book of poems and illustrations, “The Silly Monkey World,” was published. Available on Amazon.com, it reflects Kristin’s journeys in creative writing, foreign languages, science, literature, music and visual art.”
“Today, as a freshman at 13 — she skipped first grade — Kristin gets straight A’s in honors physics, honors algebra, humanities and upper-level French.”
