Long ago, Jade Emperor ordered the Four Heavenly Guardians to send a lavish gift to Lady Queen Mother on her birthday. The gift was a huge silver salver with large 72 emeralds and various jade sculptures in shapes of birds inside. Unfortunately, the Monkey King lost his temper at the birthday party, for he was not invited. He beat anything, including the silver salver. As a result, the salver was broken, and the silver fell down from the hole like water and became Taihu Lake. The 72 emeralds became 72 peaks distributed in the lake, the jade sculptured fish became the tasty whitebait and the sculptured birds became the mandarin ducks in the lake.
Legend of Taihu Lake
