Suzhou, in the Jiangsu province, was once one of the 10 largest cities in the world and has a history of over 2500 years. The financial center of China, Shanghai, only exists because Suzhou was taken in 1860, giving space for the development of the new metropolis.
Full of rivers and canals, Suzhou is known as "The Venice of the East". Its historical architecture is very similar to its neighbor Shanghai, as are its little narrow streets called longtang 弄堂 , the equivalent to the Beijing hutong.
On my one-day visit I went to the famous and touristy Shantang street, known as the "#1 ancient street in China" for its prosperity in the Ming and Qing dynasties. And then I drifted from it to the side longtangs and what I saw was so much more interesting and authentic.
A bucket used to drain the blood of birds sits on a crate beside several dead chicken and a cage of doves. A few ducks, that have their legs tied, wait still on the ground, as if they thought that if they were quiet the woman wouldn't notice them.
Beside the entrance to the ancient city walls (that apparently were rebuilt only about two years ago), a man reads the paper during a break from work.
The small longtangs surrounding Shantang Street are full of markets selling live animals. This man sells live eels by the pound. Customers pick the moving animals from a crate, then the vendor weighs, slaughters and cleans the animal, to then put them in a bloody plastic bag and hand them to the buyer.
Further down the road a woman, who also had live eels, would fry the animals and sell them ready for consumption.
Fish saleswoman argues with customer as she bags his purchase. In front of the shop several tanks with live (and some not so much) animals are for sale.
Man urinates in a corner in plain view of a huge avenue. Unfortunately, this is more common than I would like.
Around another corner is one more chicken saleswoman. In the back are the tanks full of boiling water to dip the animals to facilitate feather plucking.
After lunch it is very common to see salespeople taking a nap, like this vendor...
... and this couple, which was very well prepared for napping, but not so much for customer service.