Week Ten
Our last week in China has been extremely busy. This previous weekend, we decided to make the most out of our visit to China and visit the legendary city of Xi’an. This city was the previous host to the Chinese emperors and also boasts the presence of the Terracotta Army. 
I learned about this historic site when I was in school, so being able to see it firsthand was unbelievably rewarding. There are approximately eight thousand restored soldiers on display, however, our tour guide (also named Lily) explained to us there were likely tens of thousands more that had either yet to be discovered or could not be restored. The Terracotta Army site had three pits. Pit Number One is the biggest, hosting six thousand infantry soldiers. Lily explained these warriors would have been painted to appear more lifelike and upon their first unearthing, you can see the coloring for a few months until the oxidation of the air returns it to its claylike appearance. The second pit we visited was Pit Three which only holds sixty-seven soldiers. Lily explained these soldiers were found with bones of animals that coupled with the way they’re arranged suggests they were augurs or high-ranking officials who would be trusted to interpret animal bones to indicate the likelihood of success. The second pit held other infantry and cavalry soldiers as well as the five most famous terracotta warriors – the kneeling archer, the standing archer, the general, the Mid-Rank, and the cavalry soldier with a saddled horse. 
After the pits, our tour included a meeting with the farmer who discovered the soldiers in 1976 and reported their findings to the government. He is a famous figure in Chinese history as many attribute this discovery to his disclosure. If he had not reported their findings, this source of history would likely have been lost forever. And of course, Lily and I had to get our themed ice cream.
Next, we visited the Little Wild Goose Pagoda which also included a tour of the Xi’an Museum. Despite the name, the Small Goose Pagoda stands approximately 141 feet in the air and is named on the UNESCO World Heritage sites. 
After the Pagoda, our tour included a stop at the City Wall. Because of Xi’an’s history as the previous home to the Chinese emperors, this city was considered to be very powerful and a potential rival to the new capital – Beijing. The rulers of the Qing dynasty, threatened by the past Ming dynasty, wanted to stop the power flow of Xi’an by building a massive wall throughout the city. The Qing emperors believed this would disrupt the Feng Shui of the city and prevent any threat from arising. This city wall is the oldest standing stretch of a city wall in all of China. The tour dropped us off at the Muslim Quarter where I dragged Lily to every interesting shop we saw. She has become used to my addiction to obtaining trinkets. We spent Sunday exploring more of the Quarter as well as walking around this interesting and dynamic city before heading on the high-speed train back to Beijing.
Our last week at work was spent finishing up some projects and making sure all the ducks were in order. As most of the interns had left or were in their last few days, there weren’t as many projects to go around. However, Director Tong was kind enough to spend some time with us on Friday to go over the internship and give us an opportunity to ask any lingering questions we may have about the organization. Director Tong discussed that his long-term goal for the organization is to become more involved in the legislative efforts to enhance protections for children in China. He also reiterated that, at this time, he believes the greatest threat to children’s rights is the rising addiction of the internet and especially video games. We thanked him again for this amazing opportunity to spend time and work for this organization.
That Friday and Saturday were a blur as we were trying to complete packing up these past ten weeks of our lives. Kindly enough, Warren offered to take us to the Central Radio & TV Tower which provides a view of all of Beijing. He and Kevin loaded us into the car on Saturday morning and drove us north to where the tower was located. Although it was a little foggy, it still provided an amazing view of this city we’d been fortunate enough to call home for the past ten weeks. We got one last themed ice cream bar before returning home to finish packing.
Our last night, we went to a noodle restaurant just around the corner from our apartment where we had our last meal in China. We, of course, ordered too much and talked about our favorite memories from the summer. This entire experience has been life-changing, truly. Getting to spend the summer in a completely foreign country, working on projects of topics that interest me, and seeing sights I’ve been learning about since grade school was such an incredible opportunity.
Now, back to America!