You know it’s getting close to Chinese new year when you walk out of your apartment complex and virtually every shop in the street is completely covered in splayed open carcasses of fish, ducks and basically anything that moves, salted and drying out in the winter smog.

I’m not quite sure why this tradition came about but I’m betting it’s something to do with the low humidity at this time of the year, if they’re anything like my washing, in the high humidity summer, they’d never dry out. Anyway, H tells me that there’s a couple of reasons for making the dried fish, it’s traditional at Chinese New Year (I’d have preferred turkey and mash to be honest) and it’s non-perishable (you have a lot of relatives and markets are closed over the festive period) (I’ll stick to tins of beans and frozen pizzas thankyou very much).

Shops aren’t the only place either, walk round the back lanes and you’ll see the same fish hanging outside back windows and on washing poles, pretty much everyone is at it! H says her parents make Xian Yu every year to guarantee that the fish is fresh from the start.

He  jumped a bit when my flash went off by mistake, I hope he didn’t cut himself!

H was surprised at the amount of interest I showed in taking these photos and very kindly offered to take me to the live market when I visit her home town, “you can see pigs and chickens being slaughtered” she said. Hmmm, maybe I’ll feign a headache that day

H isn’t quite sure what these are, she thought they were duck’s balls but they looked a bit big to me, maybe pig’s balls? Anyway, she says they have “shit inside”

Pram mobiles for carnivorous children, made from pigs tongues charmingly dangled with decorative red string. I was salivating heavily by this point