Xian

Xian was a fascinating city.  Xian is home of the Terra-cotta warriors which are these 8,000 individual and unique pottery soldiers.  The first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, had this army built and buried to protect him after he died. Qin Shi Huang was a very power hungry fellow who became emperor at the age of 13 and essentially created China--He united several different countries into one China; standardized China’s language, monetary system, and measuring system; and connected several separate walls into the Great Wall of China to keep invading countries out.  Apparently, he was also very paranoid--he must have been to have all of these Terra-cotta soliders to protect him...in the after-life.

Another highlight of our trip to Xian was a visit to an orphanage run by an LDS woman from South Africa.  This orphanage currently houses over 20 young children who are between 24 days and five years old. These children all have physical disabilities and were thus abandoned by their parents.  The 13 “aunties” of the orphanage care for the children who undergo surgeries and treatment until they are placed with an adoptive family that can be either Chinese or not.  When we were there, a three-year old girl left to be placed with a couple from Holland.  It was really touching to see the “aunty” of this girl just sob because her child was leaving.  Being at the orphanage was a very neat experience and reminded me that there are a lot of people doing a lot of good in the world.