On December 12, 2008 in La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina, a dog named China was honored with the Shining World Hero Award by Supreme Master Ching Hai, for her brave maternal love. On a frigid winter night China found an abandoned baby girl in a field and carried her back to the pen that held her own newborn pups. Together with her pups China kept the baby warm through the night until her human caretaker heard the cries of the infant and took her to the local hospital for medical attention. The baby was aptly named “Esperanza,” meaning hope, at the hospital.