Terra Cotta Warriors

Thank you for all of you who are praying for Mia. It has been a tough grieving process, but we are working through it. Tomorrow we fly to Gaungzhou at 6:40pm our time - 5:40am your time. Our time here is half over. We cannot wait to be home. Please do pray for us. I'm not sure how well Mia will do on the plane ride. We've learned this week that she has never ridden in a car before and she gets very car sick.

Yesterday we visited the famous Terra Cotta Warriors. People have told me about seeing this before, but honestly, you really can't appreciate it until you have been.



Here's the history lesson. The first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang believed he would have another life after he died. He had these terra cotta soldiers, horses and chariots made to serve as his army in that life. They were buried, standing and ready for service in his tomb. In 1974, a rural Chinese farmer discovered a hat of one of the warriors while trying to dig a well. He kept it in his house for over a year. Eventually, a relative came to visit and encouraged him to dig more. 8,000 terra cotta soldiers have been uncovered to date along with 520 horses and many chariots. The soldiers each stand 6 ft tall. They date back to 210 BC. The emperor demanded that no two soldiers be made alike. It took 700,000 workers to complete the task. As we now know, the soldiers were not helpful to him in the after life.











It is an amazing site to see. Three separate buildings have been built around three excavation pits. All simply amazing. The detail of each soldier is incredible. I'm sure these pictures won't do them justice. As I said, you really have to see it to appreciate it.





This picture is of Mia at the gift shop. Not a kid friendly shop. Too much terra cotta for little hands to reach!!!

We miss you all. Thank you for following along.