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Day 2: Religion in China

       In the morning we had a presenter, Mr. Liu, come and speak to us about the Chinese government and freedom of religion in China. Mr. Liu is a devout Catholic whose from China and he shared a lot of valuable and interesting insight in the cultural regards of  religion (specifically Christianity and Catholicism) in China. He also told us about the Human rights activism being done in China and some well known Chinese activists. He emphasized the importance of us as the next generation to learn about the world and global issues in order to have to knowledge to change the world.
   
     After our talk with Mr. Liu, we went to a Buddhist Temple. We went inside the temple and we did a mental excercise. Some nice people there told us about some of the groundworks of Buddhism like the 8 fold paths and the 8 noble truths. It was really neat to get to learn about a religion I don't really hear a lot about in the mainstream, and it was interesting learning about their views and beliefs.  There was also a beautiful landscape with all kinds of really neat statues of buddhas. We took some cool photos.

      Next we had lunch at a really good Sezchuan restaurant and got to practice using chopsticks, While we were eating Mr. Zhou told us some Chinese manners, like letting the hosts sit at the seats that face the door, and to never leave chopsticks sticking up in a bowl.





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