If you have been in China, I am for sure you saw different types of street food in China. So, do you know “Ma la tang” ?? This is a night shot about some Ma-la-tang stall-keeper on the street. What is Ma-la-tang?? Urrr….bit hard to explain, but for me, its kind of close relatives of the Hotpot, just bit poor…. 
Maybe for you, its bit dirty to eat food in such places, but for the local normal Chinese, that is just normal life.
Never heard of ma la tang before…
Hi Jing! I really like your blog. Great photos. Never heard of ma la tang, but now it’s definitely on my to-try list.
Here in Los Angeles we have various food vendors. Many are from Mexico or Central America. I like to buy from them even though I am not always certain of how clean everything might be. But I’m sure they need my business more than McDonalds.
I love “ma la tang”, Jing! It tastes like Thailand’s Tom Yum Gung. It’s because I always add dark vinegar and chilli flakes into my soup. I love to choose lotus root, bamboo shoots, pork meatball, mushroom, fishball and various types of vegetables to go with my ma la tang.
I have brought many friends to try them when I was staying in Shanghai. Although many times they were sceptical as the eating place was dirty, but after tasting the soup of ma la tang, they can’t resist going back!! And I love ma la tang most during the cold winter!! Or when I was having a blocked nose. The chilli that I added give the soup a good spicy kick that cleared away all blocked nose!
i’ve tried ma-la-tang bfore.. it tastes great!! any chance u might know what its made of?