Out and About with Mia

Today was our first day of official touring. We saw two historial sites.


The Wild Goose Pagoda


Originally built in 652 during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the pagoda functioned to collect Buddhist materials that were taken from India by the hierarch Xuanzang. It is called Big Wild Goose Pagoda because of a legend.. According to ancient stories of Buddhists, there were two branches, for one of which eating meat was not a taboo. One day, they couldn't find meat to buy. Upon seeing a group of big wild geese flying by, a monk said to himself: 'Today we have no meat. I hope the merciful Bodhisattva will give us some.' At that very moment, the leading wild goose broke its wings and fell to the ground. All the monks were startled and believed that Bodhisattva showed his spirit to order them to be more pious. They established a pagoda where the wild goose fell and stopped eating meat. Hence it got the name 'Big Wild Goose Pagoda'. The tour was full of talk about Buddha and Buddism. It was interesting to hear the origins of it all, but became a little redundant after the 10 buddha statue. I still find it so interesting to see again how differently people across the world think and live.


Xi'an City Wall




When Zhu Yuanzhang, the first Emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), captured Huizhou, a hermit named Zhu Sheng admonished him that he should 'built high walls, store abundant food supplies and take time to be an Emperor,' so that he could fortify the city and unify the other states. After the establishment of the Ming dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang followed his advice and began to enlarge the wall built initially during the old Tang dynasty (618 -907), creating the modern Xian City Wall. It's the most complete city wall that has survived in China, as well being one of the largest ancient military defensive systems in the world. The wall is decorated for Chinese New Year and Mia loved the flower decorations. She wanted her photo taken with everything.







And yes, I'm copying this info from the internet because I do not remember everything Sherry said and I'm too tired to look back at my notes. Tomorrow we are headed to the Terra Cotta Warriors. We've heard so much about them.

Thanks for all of your prayers. Mia still has a broken heart, but most of the days puts on a brave face. She is beginning to show us much affection and we can't wait for all of you to meet this brave little girl. We've seen God here in the big things and in many, many small details. I can't wait to tell you all about this amazing, amazing story.

Jen