Outside shops and apartment blocks, Làwèi (腊味) — ducks, chickens, sausages, fish, even giant moray eels — hang from windows, wires, trees, and coat hangers like edible mobiles.

This cold-curing tradition goes back over 2,000 years, rooted in ancient preservation methods that predate refrigeration by millennia. It peaks during layue, the final month of the lunar calendar. As Chinese New Year approaches, the city shifts into preparation mode — and that means meat.

Everything gets salted, soaked in huangjiu or spice mixes, then left to dry in Shanghai's mild winter sun, deepening in flavor as the weeks go by.

Pork, poultry, eel, fish, and strings of lachang sausages (made to waste nothing) are ordered in advance and tagged with names. Ducks pile up in shopfronts. Vendors chat. Cats roam. Time slows down.

In a hyper-modern city, lawei is a reminder that not everything needs upgrading — just cold air, patience, and winter. And maybe a balcony neighbor who's currently drying both his sausages and his socks out there.

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