up the mountain, down the mountain

i was partially right about what i said about China and religion. but! mostly wrong. Chinese people at some point were not allowed to practice religion as the government felt that it was just superstitious. up until 1978, many temples and other religious linked monuments were destroyed. after some Open policy, realizing that there is a need and whatever, people were permitted to practice it openly. in toronto, i know in chinatown, there are some falun gong protesters. i believed that they were a religion, and saw that people were punished for practicing it in china. actually, this religion is a new one, compared to millenium-old buddhism, confusinism (?), and taoism. many of my chinese friends who are about our age do not practice any religion. my coordinator here who about 33 doesn't either. mostly the older people do.

yesterday (thursday beijing before noon/wednesday while you were sleeping) i climbed at least 500 steps up and around, half way down some mountains (we took a van from the middle down). it was long, but we were really pumped, leaving my legs quivering on the way down. no bad jokes please. check out my pictures in the photo album.