The 23-year-old plays the piano with his toes.

Liu was thrust into the limelight earlier this month when he performed on "China's Got Talent," the Chinese version of the TV show that helped make Britain's Susan Boyle a singing star.

"Whatever other people do with their hands, I do with my feet. It's just that," says Liu, a tall, slender man who peers shyly from behind dark-rimmed glasses.

In his first appearance, Liu received a standing ovation from the audience, many of whom were moved to tears, for a performance of "Mariage D'amour" by Richard Clayderman.

Sitting on a tallish red stool, he removed his shoes and right sock, carefully using his toes to place the sock in his right shoe. (He plays with his left sock on.) He wiped some of the keys with a tissue, and then rested his heels on a velvet-covered, narrow platform before the piano.

Liu, who was 10 when he lost his arms from an electrical shock while playing hide-and-seek, uses his feet to navigate online, eat, dress and brush his teeth.

"I wish I could go out driving to have fun. Apart from that, there is really nothing more I want to do," said Liu, who lives in Beijing. "Music has become a habit for me. It is just like breathing air."

He only began playing the piano in his late teens.

"Nobody ever decreed that to play the piano you must use your hands," he said.

Prosthetic limbs don't interest Liu. He has no need for special support, he said, though he conceded he has often met with discrimination. Disabled people in China, despite efforts to improve conditions, are often forced to beg on the sidewalks. Liu is able to support himself, though he wouldn't say how.

"I have food to eat and clothes to wear and many people caring about me. What is there to be dissatisfied about?" he said. "There are many people without enough to eat. I'm much more fortunate than they are."

Liu's biggest beef is with people who insist on helping him without asking first.

"Here, if someone thinks you need help they will just do it. They assume you must want help," he said. "Foreigners will ask first if you want any help. They will first respect your wishes. In that way, China could make an improvement."

Liu would like to be seen just as a pianist.

"Right now, everyone looks at me and says, 'Oh, Liu Wei has no arms and it's very difficult for him to play the piano,'" he said. "In the future, I want them to say, 'Oh he's good.' To first notice the work is great, and then say, 'Liu Wei did it.' ... What I demand is that my work be so good people won't notice that my arms are missing."