Yang Hongwei, 56, is an inheritor(传承人) of the Weifang kite-making technique(技艺). Born into a kite-making family, Yang often saw kites with bright colors and different shapes in her grandfather’s workshop.

Having a special connection with kites, Yang learned the technique from her grandfather at the age of 16. After practising the technique for 10 years, she started her own shop in 1992.

“Many places around the world have a tradition of flying kites,” Yang said. “But I think the cultural idea behind our kites is special.” So, she tries to make special kites with prints telling Chinese stories. For example, she once made a kite with pictures of 50 famous women in Chinese history on each side. Each woman is different in look, clothes and makeup. She spent much effort and time checking historical records and discussing the details with experts(专家).

Besides, she also travels abroad to tell the stories of Chinese kites and the ways they are made. Since the 1990s, she has been to many other countries, including Germany, Australia, the US and New Zealand.

“It is an important job of mine to spread our traditional culture around the world and on to the children. As long as there are people who want to learn, I won’t stop teaching”, she said.

Jack Johnson is one of the most popular song writers in the world. He was born on May 18, 1975 in Hawaii, America. Being the son of a famous surfer (冲浪运动员), Jack naturally has an interest in surfing. Most of his life lessons were learned in the water. At the age of 17, Jack entered the world’s most famous surfing competition. Everyone thought Jack would become a professional surfer like his father. Unluckily, one month later, he had an accident while surfing and was seriously hurt.

Life is like a revolving (旋转的) door. When it closes, it also opens. Jack started to practice playing the guitar and writing songs when he was staying in hospital. At first, his father thought he only did it for fun, but soon he was surprised at the great progress his son had made. When studying in the university, Jack didn’t stop practicing his guitar skills. He played the guitar for school parties. He wrote songs and sang for his teachers and friends. They liked his songs. Later Jack had lots of concerts and became popular all over the world.

Jack’s songs are more like folk music, which are played with a guitar and a beautiful voice. When listening to his songs, people feel like lying on the beach enjoying the warm sunshine.

Jack is a talent, though he himself says he is only a surfer who loves music. In his songs we can find his secret of success: Whatever happens in our lives, we have to accept it and try our best.

It’s rare to see a person inspire a new word. But that’s what Chinese volleyball superstar Zhu Ting has accomplished. “Stay awesome and ZHUperb!” Volleywood, a US-based blog website for volleyball fans, recently coined the word “ZHUperb”, which combines “Zhu” and “superb”, to describe the 24-year-old player’s dominance (支配)on the court.

At a young age, Zhu is captain of China women’s national volleyball team. But it hasn’t been easy for Zhu to get to where she is today.

Born to a farming family in Henan province, Zhu got a hard-won chance to attend a local sports school at the age of 13. The player got homesick during the first few months of training. But later she got over it, and made progress week on week. She quickly succeed in entering the national youth team from the provincial youth team.

In 2013, she became famous after helping the Chinese U20 team to win the title at the 2013 FIVB U20 World Championship. Then Zhu was enlisted in the national team and met the famous coach Lang Ping. At the beginning, as a 1.98-meter-tall girl, Zhu found it difficult to move fast and hold her weight on her feet, but Lang thought it as her advantage. She trained her to jump high to smash (扣杀) the ball. After this, she became an ace spiker (主攻手).

Zhu still works up a sweat (汗) during training. “Hard work and talent are equally important. I’ll move forward step by step,” she told People’s Daily.

Title: Zhu Ting-The superstar who inspires a new word ZHUperb