Abstract:

When young Bilike finds an ordinary ping pong ball, he and his friends take to flights of imaginative whimsy and embark on a journey to find the source of the mysterious unknown object. Bilike's old grandmother says the ball is a glowing pearl sent by the gods, but the boys are skeptical after it fails the test. Since none of their other family members are able to offer any more insight, the three boys trek to the faraway monastery to consult the wise lamas. But even the grasslands' most knowledgeable inhabitants are stumped. When a television show finally reveals that the object is the "national ball of China," the determined young scouts set off to return the ping-pong ball to the Chinese capital, where an even bigger adventure and more amusing trouble await them.