The Chinese Chicken Guy

Often in China, I roam the streets, hoping to come upon interesting things or people.  This time, while in Shanghai, I turned off the main road and into a little alleyway that was jam-packed with locals.  That's enough of an invitation to me.  It was a vibrant Chinese market where if you found space on the ground, that could be your store.  I happened upon this middle-aged Chinese man with a cage of live chickens attached to the back of his bicycle.


See the bloody scissors on top of the cage?  It's taken to the throat, then the whole chicken is dipped into boiling water to loosen up the follicles so that he can work on defeathering and gutting it.  Wow.  A whole new meaning to fresh...


I snapped a few photos until the guy looked up and started yelling at me about not taking photos.  I yelled back in my best you-can't-intimidate-me Mandarin that I wasn't and just chill out already.   


I was just about to post all my pictures commemorating the event.  But then I pause.  There might be a reason he doesn't want photos of him taken by a foreigner who will probably find his livelihood "fascinating" enough to post all over her traveling food blog.  I've seen enough instances of the control the government likes to have over its constituents, who am I to post his photo?  So this is all you'll get.  I think it tells enough of the story...