My autograph

"I can say that I shook the hand of history," says American Emmy Hagman, "and his handshake was surprisingly firm."

That piece of history was Yang Xinman, one of the seven farmers who discovered the Terracotta Warriors.

While taking a go-cart tour in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, with her family two years ago, the 25-year-old English teacher managed to meet, greet and get the autograph of Yang.

American Emmy Hagman shakes hands with Yang Xinman, one of the discoverers of the Terracotta Warriors in Shaanxi province.

Hagman says she owes the experience to their tour guide, whose expertise led them to the man.

At first Hagman thought the guide was just leading her into a souvenir shop, which she was reluctant to do, not wanting to buy any tourist trap trinkets.

But after entering and leaving the shop, the guide insisted, in a string of barely intelligible Chinese, that Hagman re-enter the shop.

Reluctantly Hagman tailed the tour guide back into the shop and was soon led around the corner, where she saw a man sitting at a simple wooden table guarded by two terracotta warriors.

"I didn't know who he was at first and only figured it out after reading the plaque that described him as 'the man that discovered the eighth wonder of the world'," Hagman says.

After taking several pictures with Yang, Hagman bought a book on Xi'an from the shop and had him autograph it. It is her most prized Chinese possession.

The book, which was brought back to the States by Hagman's family, now sits on a bookshelf in her father's office.