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People buy street food at a night market stall in Dunhuang, Gansu province, China, on Oct. 15, 2024. The job market is challenging even for doctors, so some have opened their own food stalls. © Reuters
Ilaria Maria Sala is a Hong Kong-based freelance journalist and writer, focusing on societal changes, cities, heritage and cultural developments. Cheung Hok Hang is a freelance journalist with a focus on art markets and cultural developments.
Zhao Laoshi, or Teacher Zhao, runs a small breakfast canteen in Shenzhen, selling cheong fun steamed rice rolls, a popular southern-Chinese snack, often eaten with warm soy milk. His tiny, 15-square-meter shop would seem much like any other if it were not for a piano placed in the back. The deal is this: Play a song on the piano and get a free cheong fun.
