The Chinese eat everything. If you don't believe me, just visit the street markets.
Guangzhou is probably the most important trading and manufacturing city of southern China. It's filled with clusters of towering skyscraper apartment buildings, and factories line the freeway for miles leading up to the city center. Tucked away amidst all this modernity hides Qing Ping market, a remaining section of old China nestled just across from the central island.
The market aisles are filled with dried plant substances, fruits, sea creatures, and other oddities, including butchered dog I am told (although I did not see this while I was there). It was one of my favorite places to explore while visiting the south.
So many beautiful and curious new food items
When asked what it was they were sorting, these guys had no clue. They said they were just doing their job. I'm pretty sure it was some type of sea creature.
Plump sea cucumbers, mini turtles, long thin seahorses, vertebrae, these were just a few of the many curious items for sale. I'm certain the average Westerner would not dare put most of these dried creatures in their body.
People on bikes would push by, hauling boxes and bags full of goods. This is a China from the past. Just fifty years ago, the streets were completely filled with bikes. Now, sadly, gasoline cars are the preferred mode of transport.
Dried roses and flowers used to for making tea
For the first time since entering mainland China, I got a glimpse of the old world. Amidst all the modernity I'd seen from Hong Kong, to Shenzhen, and finally Guangzhou, the market seemed a beautiful relic hidden beneath the shadows of the skyscrapers and factory sprawl of modern China.
Remaining tributes to Mao can occasionally be found inside some of the market stalls
Incense offerings mounted outside an apartment