Beijing home to 67,000 blind people, but only 10 guide dogs   

A guide dog leads two people to cross a street in Beijing. (Photo: Beijing News)

(ECNS) - Beijing is home to more than 67,000 blind people, yet there are only 10 guide dogs in the city, and they are often unwelcome on public transportation, the Beijing Morning Post reported on Wednesday.

A celebrity guide dog named Lucky made headlines when he led torchbearer Ping Yali, who suffers from partial blindness, at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games' opening ceremony.

Yet Lucky was refused entry to various Beijing subway lines on many occasions, said Ping, who was also the owner of Beijing's first guide dog in 2007.

Lucky stays home a lot now and is gaining weight, Ping said.

The guide dog is also regularly denied entry at restaurants, despite explanations from his owner.

Similar cold shoulders are anything but new to Jenny, a black Labrador guide dog, and her owner Chen Yan, a Beijing woman with a visual disability.

Jenny was rejected at Tiantongyuan Subway Station 12 times before Chen decided to give up taking the subway line.

Chen, who works as a piano tuner, has called on the public to learn more about guide dogs, which are well trained and will not injure others.

Beijing will allow guide dogs to board subway lines starting from May 1. Visually impaired passengers will be able to take guide dogs into the subway if they provide a certificate of visual difficulty and a guide-dog license.

All 10 guide dogs in Beijing have been trained by the China Guide Dog Training Center in Dalian, Northeast China's Liaoning province, the only one approved by the China Disabled Persons' Federation.

It usually costs 120,000 to 150,000 yuan ($19,000-$24,000) to train a guide dog, according to the center. A guide dog usually serves 8 to 10 years.

So far, there are about 3 to 4 million guide dogs in the world, but China only has less than 100 ones.