Only in China... extremes of wealth/poverty

A number of HKU MBAs were visiting from HK this week, and we met in a cafe for a drink.  Stepping out at midnight, we were surprised to find a man sat on the floor, aside a pile of food waste.  He appeared to be picking pieces out into a small bowl.  His bicycle stood alongside, with the tell-tale slender food-waste bins attached either side of his rear wheel.

 

It was hard to tell what he was actually doing, sat on the floor.  I thought perhaps he was picking out the hard bits (bones, fruit stones), so as to leave organic produce that could be turned into methane, or perhaps fed to animals.  A friend thought perhaps he was finding tasty bits to eat.  Who knows.  In any case, it's an unsettling way to end an evening. 

 

It's easy to miss the poverty in Shanghai nowadays - the beggars are kept away from the tourist areas.  But on the smaller back streets (where some cool places such as Citizen bar/cafe on 222 Jinxing road near shanxi road), you can still catch a piece of the 'reality of China'.