It's generally accepted that religion is a bit of a taboo topic in China. So much so, that sometimes church meetings of foriegners in China get broken up mid-service. With this dislike towards religion, there surely would be no chance at all in China of spending time with Christians and talking theology, right?

About that. I may have just spent the majority of my day with John, Kuitun's pastor, and some of his Christian friends, talking about Christianity. They were eager to help me convert to Christianity, having told John previously that i'm agnostic.

When I left the UK, I thought there would be a chance of meeting some christians in China, but little did I expect to be sat at a table with the town's pastor and members of his church over dinner! I certainly didn't expect to be given my very own copy of the NIV Bible, complete with dual-language Chinese translation...

After my conversation with a friend yesterday about his own personal approach to spirituality, the contrast was huge. The feeling I sensed from both my friend yesterday and the christians today was the same however. There was a distinct sense of anxiety for being judged for their ideas and beliefs.

This isn't the first time i've come across people having a strong but silent anxiety for something considered contraversial in China. I won't mention any exact examples of people, but I have met people who feel anxiety over cultural, political, religious and sexuality concerns. These are all things which people supposedly just don't talk about. My experience has been very different. I keep on meeting people who wish to express these things, but feel they have to be very careful and quiet about it.

All I can say if China were a book, it would have many many pages. But it would also have the thickest cover of any book in the world.

And on that, I will finish writing until tomorrow.