To my son， Winston， and my daughter， Aimee， who， from a toddler's age to adulthood， were thrilled with my telling and retelling ofthe stories from this great book.
　　With sincere gratitude to Yu Sumei for accepting the challenge to work with me to create a new translation of this classic literature with the goal of turning it into an excit ing novel. My beliefis that it is notjust what you say but how you say it. My appreciation to Yu Sumei's daughter who typed out each page. They worked diligently for two years to produce a uniquely compelling version of this epic work， complete with footnotes for clarification ofcertain events and words in the text. My gratitude extends to a friend， Shen Li who was instrumental in recommending and introducing me to Yu Sumei. And certainly a note ofgratitude to Cheryl Banks for her suggestions as to improving the look of the book， as well as her many hours of help in preparing this text for printing which ultimately led to its publication.
　　No dedication would be complete without the mention of my many Chinese and American friends who encouraged me to continue this new translation and share it with the world. May readers enjoy thejourney as much or beyond what we have experienced in the production of this classic， which will live in perpetuity.