Our second day was exciting. We started the morning by visiting the park at Du Fu’s thatched cottage. A section of the park is devoted to an excavation site, where archeologists have discovered some buildings from the Tang dynasty. The rest of the park is mostly gardens. These gardens are more intricate than the Wu Han temple gardens—maze-like in nature, the twisting pathways brought us around rock formations, waterfalls, bonsai trees, and a vast variety of vegetation. Many small streams run through the gardens, giving the park a connected feeling.

After we visited the gardens, we went to a Chengdu public school for children with intense special needs. At the school we got a tour of the grounds; the school is equipped with a vast array of facilities, including a roof garden, a mushroom hut, a real maker space (with saws and hammers, not laser cutters and 3D printers), a small library, a track and field, and many classrooms. After our tour, we got paired with a buddy, and went to art class with them. My buddy was a little girl, who, it turns out, is very good at painting crabs. After art class, we did a gift exchange, and said goodbye.

Later in the evening, we had dinner with a special guest. An interpreter from Chengdu, he provided insight on what being an interpreter is like, as well as what China is like as a citizen. At one point toward the end of dinner, I got the opportunity to ask him about his opinion on Donald Trump, and how that compares with the majority opinion in China. His answer was clear and concise: nobody in China cares about what Trump is doing, just like how nobody in China cared about Obama, or Bush. This seems on par with how most Americans feel about President Xi; most Americans do not care what President Xi does, because usually it does not impact our lives.

When dinner was over, we went to a tea house, and saw a performance of various arts. There was a short Chinese opera, some shadow puppets, and some singing and instrument playing. The entertaining performance was a solid end to busy day.