My godchild

Some of the best things money cannot buy.

No one knows this better than Ulrike Nieter, whose favorite Chinese treasure is her Chinese godchild, Harry.

The story behind the 52-year-old German's rise to god-parenthood is uncanny.

In 1997, Nieter was hiring summer interns for the German conglomerate she worked for at the time, and she hired a quiet young lady whose English name was Linda Zhang and whose Chinese name was Zhang Yi.

Zhang began working for the company every other day, until one day a fresh face arrived in her place.

"I went to the girl and said to her 'You're not Linda Zhang' and the girl responded 'Yes, I am Linda Zhang'," Nieter says.

After a few moments of mystification, Nieter finally found that the girl was indeed named Linda Zhang and her Chinese name was also Zhang Yi but she was not the same Linda Zhang who had been there the previous Monday.

At first Nieter was angry that the original Zhang had found a replacement and somehow forgot to mention it to her.

But by the end of her first half hour with the new Linda, she found that the student had gumption and decided to give her a chance.

Within a week, Zhang had proven herself to be intelligent, reliable and agile, leaving Nieter impressed.

Soon the two started to develop a strong bond, and by the end of the internship Nieter did not want to see Zhang go.

As time progressed, Zhang and Nieter's relationship grew. Zhang soon found herself working as Nieter's assistant and when the opportunity arose for Zhang to work at the World Economic Forum, Nieter did everything she could to help.

Nieter now regards Zhang as the equivalent of a younger sister. The two are so close that when Zhang found out she was pregnant she immediately offered Nieter the position of godmother and the chance to name the child.

(China Daily June 23, 2008)