In ancient China, a woman told the best stories. She married to the emperor (皇帝). Sadly, one day, this woman became ill and died. Everyone thought the emperor would soon find another favorite among his wives, but the emperor was very sad. He spent more and more time in his garden, and less and less time caring for the needs of his people. Everyone in the kingdom was worried.

One day, a priest (牧师) passed when some children were playing with their dolls. The dolls made dancing shadows on the wall. This gave the priest an idea. He knew the stories the emperor's wife used to tell. What if he could bring those stories to life?

    The priest made a puppet (木偶) out of bits of clay (黏土). He painted the puppet to look somewhat like the emperor's wife. When the puppet was finished, the priest silently walked into the emperor's garden, carrying his puppet, a candle and a curtain. He placed the curtain near the emperor's chair. He placed his candle, his puppet and himself behind the curtain. He waited for the emperor to appear.

The emperor did not even notice the curtain at first. The dancing shadow drew his eyes. As the priest moved the puppet behind the curtain, he told wonderful stories as the emperor's wife. It seemed as if his wife was spending time with him. The emperor was no longer sad. At the end of each busy day, the emperor went into his garden to visit his shadow wife and hear her stories once again. That is how shadow puppets first began.

    Whenever the sun dropped and the blue sky came up, my father and I used to climb the mountain near my house. Walking together, my father and I used to have a lot of conversations, and I learnt lessons from his experiences during our conversations. He always told me, "You should have goals (目标) like climbing the mountain. "Without the mountain-climbing, we couldn't have enough time to spend together, because my father was very busy. I really got a lot from the mountain-climbing. It gave me time to talk with my father and to be in deep thoughts as well as to develop my patience.

    Once we climbed a very high mountain. It was so challenging for me because I was only ten years old. During the first few hours of climbing, I enjoyed the flowers and trees, and the birds' singing. But as time passed, I got a pain in both of my legs. I didn't want to climb. In fact, I hated it at that moment, but my father said to me, "You can always see a beautiful sky at the top of the mountain, but you can't see it before you reach the top. Only there at the top can you see all the nice things, just like in life."

    At that time, I was too young to understand his words. But later, I got to know hope and confidence (信心). I found myself standing at the top of the mountain, and the sky was as clear as the crystal (水晶).