Meili, a young peasant woman born in the remote heart of China, is married to Kongzi, a village school teacher, and a distant descendant of Confucius. They have a daughter, but desperate for a son to carry on his illustrious family line, Kongzi gets Meili pregnant again without waiting for official permission.
When a special exhibition of terracotta warriors comes to town, Ming and his mother goes to see them at the museum. To remember this exciting event, Ming's mother buys him a little figurine of a General to keep in his room at home. But at midnight, Ming wakes up and finds the General figurine is alive and he has a copper carriage ready to take Ming to his home in Emperor Qin Shi Huang's Tomb in…