Despite being hard of hearing, he gravitated toward music and began playing alto saxophone at 16, later switching to tenor.
Nan agrees: "Compared with written Chinese, English was indeed a language of common people, despite being hard to master, its grammatical rules too loose and its idioms defying logic".
That has been the question posed by many box-office watchers in recent weeks, as the probable best picture contender has continued to win fans at film festivals despite being hard to watch at times.
Despite being hard-wired for longevity, the remaining forest, which has survived drastic changes in climate in the millions of years it has existed, may not survive the rapid climate change we see now.
The government in Vilnius has remained one of the strongest proponents of sanctions against Russia despite its economy being hard hit as a result.
Despite appearances, walking is harder than playing pinball.
The number of new plays also rose between 2009 and 2014, particularly at the best-funded venues, despite fears that new writing is harder to sell.
Hamilton said that he felt he was in with a chance of winning the race, because he was keeping pace with the three leaders in front of him despite being on harder tyres.
But many of these activists - despite having been hard at work painting the Democratic Party as a harborer of "abortionists" and Barack Obama as a supporter of "infanticide" - seem to be giving the John McCain campaign and the GOP a free pass.
Against the odds, the Mets have hung near.500 despite being hit hard by injuries.
DESPITE being a hard sell, classical music is alive and well in the Hamptons.
