In the Crown Kingdom in the Peace Province in the Jasmine City, one day, Emperor Wei Jian was chatting with his wife, Fang Huan, about Yueliang and Taiyang and here is a snapshot of their conversation:
Wei: Fang, what do you think about growth of Yueliang and Taiyang? Are they growing well at the right pace?
Fang: Do you mean their mental growth?
Wei: Yes, the physical growth is out of my concern. I am concerned about their personal and mental growth.
Fang: As far as their studies are concerned, they both are diligent and study regularly. They also pass their exams with high grades. I think they are in safe zone. No need to worry about that.
Wei: But do you know, Fang, that studies are not the only dimension for human growth. There are other dimensions that need to be considered and taken care of.
Fang: What do you mean, Wei? Can you be more specific and concrete?
Wei: I mean the dimension of hobbies. Sometimes, people achieve more and greater success at their hobbies than their professions or studies.
Fang: The major hobby for Yueliang is Chinese calligraphy. He is fond of writing Chinese symbols and valuable wisdom in a beautiful way. His handwriting is charming and elegant. As for Taiyang, her major hobby is drawing and painting and she likes to draw and paint about nature. Her drawings and paintings are hung in her room for adornment.
Wei: But now their hobbies are limited in impact and no one knows about them except a few. I think we should step further and help them promote their work and reach a wider audience.
Fang: Do you have an idea in mind?
Wei: Why do not we establish for them an exhibition room inside the palace in which they display their art?
Fang: That is a good idea. But who will visit this exhibition room?
Wei: The people authorized to be in the palace such as ministers, officials, servants and maids.
Fang: But the problem with this is that these people are still limited in number. Wei, I have a better idea on top of your idea.
Wei: Tell me. I am listening to you fully.
Fang: Why do not we open an art gallery for Yueliang and Taiyang? The art gallery will have two sections: one section for the works of Yueliang and one section for the works of Taiyang. The art gallery is open to all people with a reasonable entrance fee. This will help us monetize the skills of Yueliang and Taiyang and turn them into a profitable project.
Wei: Wow! That is a great idea, Fang. I think this should be our goal.
The emperor summoned Yueliang and Taiyang and after they arrived, the following conversation took place:
Wei: Yueliang, Taiyang. How are you doing, my dear son and daughter?
Yueliang and Taiyang: We are doing well. Thank you, our dear father and mother.
Wei: I heard about your hobbies and I want to know more about that. Yueliang, how many Chinese pieces of wisdom have you written so far?
Yueliang: I have in my room 100 pieces of Chinese wisdom with beautiful calligraphy.
Fang: Taiyang, how many drawings and paintings do you have so far?
Taiyang: I have 50 drawings and paintings in my room; some are hung on the walls while others are in my drawers.
Fang: Your father and I have a marvelous idea for you. We want to cherish your talent, help you promote your skills and share your art with people.
Taiyang: I am really excited to know about your plan, my dear mother.
Fang: We plan to open an art gallery for you in which you will exhibit your calligraphy pieces, drawings and paintings. People will enter the art gallery with an entrance fee and this money will be accumulated and given to you after deducting the operational costs of the art gallery.
Yueliang: Wow! That is really a great idea. I have never thought about turning my hobbies and passion into a profitable project. This will give us the motivation to do more and better in our hobbies and passion.
Taiyang: True; I was at times sad because not so many people are aware of my talent and my drawings and paintings have limited visibility and exposure to people. With this idea, I am willing to draw more and share my art with the world. Thank you, dear father and mother, for your astounding idea that will help me and Yueliang cherish our talent and make a profitable project out of it.
Wei: Do not thank us. It is incumbent on us to discover your talents and strengths, cherish them, and help you grow and prosper in the right direction with the right tools.
Yueliang: My father, when do you think the art gallery will be ready?
Wei: I will order the relevant people to proceed with the implementation of this project. The art gallery must be tailored to our needs and expectations. It needs to be built with a wise vision and the best engineering practices.
Yueliang and Taiyang: Thank you, dear father and mother. We are really excited to see this dream come true. From now on, we will spend more time in creating artistic masterpieces that will be displayed in the art gallery.
Fang: Yes, the more artistic masterpieces you have, the better. People will be interested in seeing a myriad of your works, not just a few. The more diverse collection of your works you have, the better.
Taiyang: Now I have a true motivation to stay up late in order to be productive in my art.
Wei: Do your best and we are with you. Impress us.
After six months, the art gallery was built and embellished finely. The art gallery was named: The Imperial Art Gallery of the Dragon and the Phoenix. The dragon symbolizes Yueliang and the phoenix symbolizes Taiyang. Yueliang and Taiyang exhibited their works in two different sections of the art gallery and there was a great influx of visitors to the art gallery. The entrance fee to the art gallery is five golden taels. People were astonished by the skills of Yueliang in calligraphy and Taiyang is drawing and painting. Here is a sample of people's comments on the works of Yueliang and Taiyang:
Visitor 1: Yueliang's calligraphy is astounding. I wish my handwriting is like that.
Visitor 2: Yueliang's works are amazing. He is the best calligrapher I have ever seen.
Visitor 3: Yueliang's calligraphy is phenomenal. He is gifted to have such beautiful handwriting.
Visitor 4: Yueliang's calligraphy is wonderful. He is the best ever.
Visitor 5: Yueliang's calligraphy is elegant. He writes with his heart, not his hand.
Visitor 6: Taiyang's drawings are hypnotizing. I feel like I am in a beautiful dream.
Visitor 7: Taiyang's drawings are breathtaking. I cannot believe she has such a great talent.
Visitor 8: Taiyang's paintings are mesmerizing. The colors are vibrant.
Visitor 9: Taiyang's paintings are dazzling. I wish I can have all her paintings in my room.
Visitor 10: Taiyang's paintings are impressive. She is the best painter in China.
The following table shows the number of visitors and the profits of the art gallery after one year of opening.
Month
Number of Visitors
Profits
1
5000
25000
2
3000
15000
3
6000
30000
4
2000
10000
5
8000
40000
6
4000
20000
7
1000
5000
8
12000
60000
9
9000
45000
10
14000
70000
11
7000
35000
12
15000
75000
Total
86000
430000
The art gallery had in one year a total of 86000 visitors who paid a total of 430000 golden taels for entrance fees. Of course, Yueliang and Taiyang did not obtain all of this money because they have to pay the operational expenses first. The operational expenses include the salary of maids who clean the art gallery regularly, the guards who watch and protect the art gallery day and night, the guides who speak with visitors about the works and Yueliang and Taiyang. The operational expenses for the first year were 40% of the total income. In other words, the operational expenses were 172000 golden taels. Therefore, Yueliang and Taiyang received a total of 258000 golden taels in the first year.
Wei Jian: Congratulations, Yueliang and Taiyang. Your profit for the first year is 258000 golden taels. Yueliang you take half the amount (129000 golden taels) and Taiyang takes the other half (129000 golden taels).
Yueliang: But that is not a fair distribution of profits, my father.
Wei: What do you mean?
Yueliang: You and my mother proposed the idea of the art gallery so you should have a share in our profits.
Taiyang: I agree. You and my mother deserve part of the profits.
Fang Huan: Tell me. How much do you want to give us?
Yueliang: Let is divide the profits by four. Each one of us takes one quarter of the profits (64500 golden taels).
Wei and Fang: [laugh] We are joking. We want nothing from you. All the money is yours.
Wei: The greatest happiness for parents is to see the success of their children. We need your success, not your money.
Fang: That is true. Astonish us with your achievements and keep the money for you.
Taiyang: I am thrilled to witness your generosity and altruism. You care for us more than you do for yourselves. We are blessed to have the greatest parents.
Yueliang: Thank you, my parents. Your generosity is indescribable.
After a while, Taiyang got an idea for the expansion of the art gallery so she spoke with her parents and Yueliang in this regard.
Taiyang: My beloved parents, I have an idea for the expansion of the art gallery project. What do not we open more art galleries across the Chinese empire.
Fang: But Taiyang, can you draw or paint for more art galleries? I see you are already occupied with a single art gallery. It is impossible that you can work for more than one art gallery. Remember you are a human being and human beings are limited in their knowledge and capacity.
Taiyang: True, my mother. I cannot provide works for more art galleries. But my idea is to have professional painters and calligraphers who will duplicate or imitate my works and Yueliang's (i.e. produce replicas of my works and Yueliang's). Once our works are duplicated, we can distribute them to different art galleries across the major cities of the Chinese empire.
Wei: That is really an impressive idea. I never thought about expansion. So how many art galleries we should open?
Yueliang: Taiyang and I suggest that we open 24 new art galleries, five in each of the four kingdoms and four in the Crown Kingdom because we already have the first one.
Wei: But how will we pay the imitating artists who will duplicate your work?
Fang: There are two options: either we pay them a one-time wage or we let them continuously share a percentage of the profits.
Wei: It is our interest that we pay them a one-time wage but it is their interest to be paid continuously for their work. It is a difficult equation.
Fang: Let us pay them a continuous percentage of the profits to show them that we are generous and that they are real partners in our success.
Wei: That is wise. How much should we pay them?
Fang: I suggest we pay them 10% of profits.
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Wei: That is little. I suggest that we pay them around one third of profits which is 30%. Yueliang and Taiyang deserves two thirds or 70% of profits: one third for their hard work and one third for the initiative.
Fang: Yes. I think that is the best profit sharing scheme: 70% for Yueliang and Taiyang and 30% for the imitating artists.
After a while, emperor Wei Jian ordered that 24 new art galleries are opened across the five kingdoms and he summoned the best Chinese artists to duplicate the works of Yueliang and Taiyang. A total of 100 artists agreed to participate in the duplication effort and they were very happy to know that they will continuously receive 30% of profits for their contribution. Each artist is paid his/her profits at the end of the year after the operational expenses are deducted from the income of the art galleries.
The following table shows some statistics about the income of the 25 art galleries in one year. It is important to notice that in the first art gallery which contains the original works of Yueliang and Taiyang, imitating artists get zero profits. Also, the profits of Yueliang, Taiyang and imitating artists are calculated after the operational expenses for each art gallery is deducted.
Art Gallery
Number of Visitors
Total Profits (golden taels)
Operational Expenses
(40%)
Imitating Artists' Profits
(30%)
Yueliang's and Taiyang's Profits
(70%)
1
100000
500000
200000
0
300000
2-25
1153000
5765000
2306000
1037700
2421300
Total
1253000
6265000
2506000
1037700
2721300
In this year, there were a total of 1253000 visitors to the 25 art galleries with a total of 6265000 golden taels in profits. The total amount of operational expenses was 2506000 golden taels. After deducting the operational expenses, imitating artists got a total of 1037700 golden taels while Yueliang and Taiyang got a total of 2721300 golden taels and each one of them got half this amount (1360650 golden taels).
Yueliang and Taiyang were very happy to see the fruits of their hobbies and how they could realize their true potential in a profitable project in which they do what they love.
After a while, Yueliang had an idea to introduce into the art galleries with the aim of increasing the profits. This idea is about introducing a wing to each art gallery called the premium wing. In the premium wing, the most beautiful works of Yueliang and Taiyang (and imitating artists) are displayed and the entrance fee to the premium wing is double that of the general sections of the art gallery. For example, while the entrance fee to each art gallery is 5 golden taels, the entrance fee to the premium wing in each art gallery will be 10 golden taels. Yueliang proposed this idea to his parents and they agreed to implement it. After a while, the premium wings resulted in around 30% increased profits from the 25 art galleries and that was aligned with the vision of Yueliang.
One time, the emperor was chatting with his wife as follows:
Wei: Fang, it is interesting how humans are imperfect creatures. They have limited knowledge, power and wisdom. Do you remember how the idea of the art galleries evolved over time by different people?
Fang: Yes, I remember: you first proposed the idea of an exhibition room inside the palace then I proposed the idea of the art gallery then Taiyang proposed the idea of expansion and opening 24 new art galleries with the help of imitating artists then Yueliang proposed the idea of premium wings inside the art galleries. It was like a collective brainstorming effort that led to the current full-blown status of the art galleries.
Wei: Do you know, Fang, that now I am both happy and sad?
Fang: I know you are happy for the success of our children but I do not know why you are sad?
Wei: I am happy because we could discover, cherish and grow the talents of our children and helped them realize their true potential and get the most out of their talents. At the same time, I am sad because I know that there are a myriad of children in this world with amazing talents but their talents are buried under negligence, indifference and lack of appreciation and not discovered or cherished because of their poor or hard circumstances. It is sad how talents are suppressed or buried without being noticed.
Fang: True, Wei. But do not be so sad because these things are beyond your control. I know you want the Chinese Empire to be the best as much as you can but you cannot discover every shortcoming and fix it. You are still a human being with limited abilities.
Wei: True, Fang. The important thing is to mend things as much as I can and do my best to let the Chinese Empire flourish and prosper.
In the Star Kingdom in the Silk Province in the Rainbow City, the tailors Liling Heng and Mei Shun heard about the new art gallery that was opened recently in their city and they decided to visit it together.
Liling: The paintings of Taiyang and the calligraphy works of Yueliang are extraordinary. They are very talented.
Mei: But remember these are imitations of the works of the Yueliang and Taiyang. Their original works are only in The Imperial Art Gallery of the Dragon and the Phoenix in the Jasmine City.
Liling: True. I bet that the original works of Yueliang and Taiyang are more beautiful than the imitations.
Mei: Yes, I think so. But it is difficult for us to travel to the Jasmine City. We have to be content with this art gallery in our city.
Liling: Yes, you are right. I heard that Yueliang and Taiyang are very beautiful. They have both inner and outer beauty. How lucky will be the future wife of Yueliang and the future husband of Taiyang?
Mei: True. Prince Yueliang and Princess Taiyang have the perfect attributes: they are beautiful, artists, rich, noble and the children of the emperor. It is extremely difficult for these attributes to be combined in a single person in our world.
Liling: I wish to meet Prince Yueliang and Princess Taiyang one day face to face. That would be one of the happiest moments in my life.
Mei: I am afraid that is only a dream. Human beings have unlimited dreams but only a few of them come true while the rest dwell only in their imagination.
Liling: True. Sometimes we dream of more than we can accomplish.
One night, Yueliang and Taiyang were having fun with their cousins. They were playing different games such as chess, hide and seek, etc.
Kun: My cousins, have you heard the news?
Jiao: Which news? There are many news!
Kun: I heard that the Falcon Circus has arrived to the Jasmine City. Are you not interested in attending the circus and watching their performance?
Yueliang: Wow! I am really interested in seeing the wonders of the circus.
Taiyang: Me too! It is a special occasion that we must not miss.
Qiu: What is the Falcon Circus?
Yueliang: Typically the circus consists of four parts: the acrobats, the clowns, the magicians and the trained animals.
Qiu: That looks amazing. I also want to attend.
Xiang: What animals are there in the circus?
Xue: I think there will be elephants, lions, tigers, kangaroos, etc.
Xiang: But I feel scared of lions and tigers. They are dangerous predators.
Yong: Do not be scared, my lovely cousin. These animals are domesticated and they are no longer dangerous. They are cute and do not hurt anyone.
After three days, the cousins gathered and they went to the Falcon Circus to watch the astounding performances of the circus team. They sat in the first ring of the circus (the closest ring to the performances). Yueliang and Taiyang and their cousins were dazzled by magician Zixin Quon and his skills. They liked his sleight of hand and distinguished talents. That was the first meeting between Yueliang, Taiyang, their cousins and Zixin.
In another nice night, Yueliang and Taiyang were gathering with their cousins in the presence of the emperor, the empress, and the emperor's brothers and their wives. The emperor summoned his children, nephews and nieces to teach them one interesting game that he invented. The game is called: the Intelligent Alliance.
Wei Jian: Today I want to teach you a new game that I invented and named: The Intelligent Alliance. The game aims at forming teams of players based on luck and then two teams compete in the final round for winning the battle. I am sure you will enjoy this game much. The game consists of four phases: the Starting Phase, the Clustering Phase, the Merging Phase and the Final Challenge Phase.
The rules of the game are as follows:
The Starting Phase:
* A jar of small balls with different colors is placed on a table.
* There must be at least ten different colors for the balls.
The Clustering Phase:
* The purpose of this phase is to form two or more teams with each team having at least two players.
* Each player draws a ball from the jar in sequence without seeing the balls while drawing.
* Players who drew identical balls (identical colors) cluster together to form a team and stop drawing more balls.
* Individual players who could not cluster together and form a team keep drawing balls in successive rounds until they cluster together and form a new team or join an existing team.
* If ultimately two teams are formed in this phase, the players move to the Final Challenge Phase directly without going through the Merging Phase.
* If ultimately more than two teams are formed in this phase, the players must move to the Merging Phase.
Special Cases:
* A team cannot consist of all players. In other words, if all the players draw the same ball's color, they need to repeat the step of drawing balls to get different colors and cluster in different teams.
* If all players except one cluster in a single team, one volunteer must withdraw from the large team and go to the individual to form a team of two with him/her.
The Merging Phase:
* The purpose of this phase is to merge three or more teams into exactly two teams.
* Each team of the three or more teams sends an ambassador to draw a ball from jar.
* Ambassadors who draw identical balls (identical colors) merge their teams together.
* If no teams are merged, ambassadors must keep drawing balls in successive rounds until exactly two teams are formed from merging all the teams.
Special Cases:
* If all ambassadors draw identical balls, they must repeat the process of drawing balls. A single team is not allowed. Ultimately, there must be exactly two teams.
The Final Challenge Phase:
* The purpose of this phase is to determine the winner team and the loser team.
* The team with less number of players determines how to end the game either with a physical challenge such as: (running contest, tug of war, arm wrestling, etc.) or mental challenge (riddles, puzzles, asking cultural questions, etc.).
* When one team surpasses the other team with one point in the physical or mental challenge, it wins and the other team loses.
* If there is a draw (equal points) in this phase, the two competitors must continue in more rounds of the challenge until a winner appears.
Are the rules clear to everyone?
Yueliang: Yes my dear father. It is clear. It looks a very interesting game. Let us start it. I am thrilled to see who will win at the end.
Yueliang, Taiyang and their cousins started to play the game and here is a snapshot of how the game progressed.
Game 1
1. The players drew balls and were clustered in this fashion:
1. Team 1 (red ball): Yueliang, Qiu, Xue, Jiao, Liu, Xiang, Ting, Yong and Zan.
2. Team 2 (yellow ball): Taiyang, Shan, Lin, Yi, Kun and Lian.
2. Since exactly two teams were formed in the clustering phase, the players move directly to the Final Challenge Phase without the need for the Merging Phase.
3. Since Taiyang's team is less than Yueliang's team, Taiyang's team determines how to end the game. After consultation with team members, they chose to end the game with a physical challenge, namely arm wrestling. Taiyang nominated Kun for her team and Yueliang was nominated by his team.
4. Kun won the arm wrestling against Yueliang so Taiyang's team is the winner for this game because they surpassed the other team with a single point.
Game 2
1. The players drew balls and were clustered in this fashion:
1. Team 1 (blue ball): Yueliang, Jiao, Shan and Lin.
2. Team 2 (black ball): Taiyang, Liu, Yi and Ting.
3. Team 3 (green ball): Kun, Qiu, Xiang and Yong.
4. Team 4 (white ball): Lian, Xue and Zan.
2. Since four teams (more than two) were formed in the clustering phase, the players must move the Merging Phase to produce exactly two teams.
3. Each team chose an ambassador. The following four ambassadors were nominated: Lin, Yi, Qiu and Zan. The ambassadors drew balls and the result was: Lin (green ball), Yi (white ball), Qiu (red ball) and Zan (white ball).
4. Yi's team and Zan's team are merged because they had identical balls. Lin and Qiu has to draw again. Lin and Qiu drew balls the result was: Lin (yellow ball) and Qiu (white ball). Qiu's team joins Yi's and Zan's team.
5. The new two teams after merging:
1. Team 1 (white ball): Taiyang, Liu, Yi, Ting, Kun, Qiu, Xiang, Yong, Lian, Xue and Zan.
2. Team 2 (yellow ball): Yueliang, Jiao, Shan and Lin.
6. Since Yueliang's team is less than Taiyang's team, Yueliang's team determines how to end the game. After consultation with team members, they chose to end the game with a mental challenge, namely riddles.
7. Yueliang's riddle was: Which bird does not fly?
Taiyang's team answered: The ostrich [W-3].
Yueliang said: True. One point for you.
Taiyang's riddle was: Which animal does produce a foul-smelling oily liquid?
Yueliang's team answered: The skunk [W-3].
Taiyang said: True. One point for you.
8. Since both team had a draw, more questions are needed to settle the competition.
Yueliang's riddle: Which animal does construct dams and underwater lodges?
Taiyang's team could not answer.
Yueliang said: The beaver [W-3].
Taiyang's riddle was: Which mammal can fly?
Yueliang said: The bat [W-3].
Taiyang said: You are right. You won one point.
9. Yueliang and his team is the winner for this game because they surpassed the other team with a single point.
Game 3
1. The players drew balls and were clustered in this fashion:
1. Team 1 (white ball): Yueliang, Shan, Ting and Lin.
2. Team 2 (red ball): Taiyang, Liu, Jiao and Yong.
3. Team 3 (grey ball): Kun, Qiu and Xiang.
4. Lian (blue ball), Xue (black ball), Zan (yellow ball), Yi (green ball).
2. Since there were four players who could not cluster with a team (Lian, Xue, Zan and Yi), these players must repeat the ball drawing process until they cluster with a team.
3. Ball Drawing Round1:
Lian (orange ball), Xue (orange ball), Zan (blue ball), Yi (black ball).
Now, after this round, Lian and Xue forms a new team (Team 4). Zan and Yi has to continue drawing balls until they cluster with a team.
Ball Drawing Round 2:
Zan (purple ball), Yi (white ball).
Now Yi joins Team 1. Zan has to go to another ball drawing round.
Ball Drawing Round 3:
Zan (grey ball)
Now Zan joins Team 3.
4. Now all players could cluster together in a team, we have the following list of the current teams:
Team 1 (white ball): Yueliang, Shan, Ting, Lin, Yi.
Team 2 (red ball): Taiyang, Liu, Jiao and Yong.
Team 3 (grey ball): Kun, Qiu, Xiang, and Zan.
Team 4 (orange ball): Lian and Xue.
5. Since four teams (more than two) were formed in the clustering phase, the players must move the Merging Phase to produce exactly two teams.
6. Each team chose an ambassador. The following four ambassadors were nominated: Yueliang, Liu, Xiang and Lian. The ambassadors drew balls and the result was:
Ball Drawing Round 1:
Yueliang (black ball), Liu (green ball), Xiang (purple ball), Lian (yellow ball).
Since no merging can occur because of this draw, the ambassadors had to go through another round of ball drawing.
Ball Drawing Round 2:
Yueliang (white ball), Liu (white ball), Xiang (red ball), Lian (yellow ball).
Now Yueliang's team and Liu's team merge together (the white team). Xiang's team and Lian's team has to go to another round of ball drawing:
Ball Drawing Round 3:
Xiang (white ball), Lian (red ball).
Now Xiang's team joins the white team while Lian's team remains alone.
7. The new two teams after merging:
Team 1 (white ball): Yueliang, Shan, Ting, Lin, Yi, Taiyang, Liu, Jiao, Yong, Kun, Qiu, Xiang and Zan.
Team 2 (red ball): Lian and Xue.
8. Since Lian's team is less than Yueliang's team, Lian's team determines how to end the game. After consultation with Xue, they chose to end the game with a physical challenge, namely running contest.
9. Xue and Yi ran for 50 meters and it was Yi who won.
10. Yueliang and his team is the winner for this game because they surpassed the other team with a single point.
After the three games ended, for each game, the emperor rewarded winners with 2000 golden taels each and losers with 1000 golden taels each. Yueliang, Taiyang and their cousins were very happy with this game and the monetary prizes they obtained from the emperor. The emperor was also happy to see his novel abstract idea turned into an actual game that combines joy and benefit. The emperor finally said: “Two lessons we learn from this game: Lesson 1: Never expect to win every game. In other words, expect loss at times. Lesson 2: When you lose, do not surrender and do not cease to try your best in the subsequent attempts.”