By Li Hongmei

A man who was diagnosed with moderate brain damage has stunned the Chinese audience with his remarkable skills in mathematics during a television program telecast on China Jiangsu TV.

Zhou Wei, 23, successfully solved the 14th root of a 16-digit number in a flash on a program called The Brain. His feat was broadcast on Jan. 18.

Xu Zhenli, an associate professor at the Mathematics Department of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, posed three very complex math questions to Zhou, including a long exponentiation and solving for the 14th root of a 16-digit number. Zhou was able to solve the math problem quickly in his head.

The audience and the panel were moved to tears when Zhou's family shared the 23-year-old's story, reported the Guangzhou Daily.

Zhou was born perfectly healthy, but was frightened by a pillow when he was 6 months old and developed a physical abnormality. He was later diagnosed with a chronic low blood sugar and poor mental development.

When he was 9 years old, his illness healed miraculously.

Zhou's mother held on to a glimmer of hope in Zhou's ability to perform simple mathematics equations. She begged schools to accept Zhou, and he was finally invited to sit-in on a 5th grade class. He had studied in the first grade when he was 10, but could solve math questions designed for third-graders.

He unfortunately had to drop out of school because of the negative perception of other people.

Zhou likes to read math books and is fond of using his calculator. He wanted to learn how to read when he was a child, but no teacher was willing to correct his homework, which made him averse to a school education.

Some netizens were of the view that this was the first time they had been rendered so emotional after watching an educational show.

"I shed tears. It was so shocking and touching. He is a genius," an internet user said.

"We should never mock people that have suffered brain damage. Maybe those who are mocked are the next hidden genius," said another netizen.