The flower and insect market is the most exotic shopping place that I have visited in Shanghai. Crickets that are kept in small plastic containers with mesh tops make the indoor marketplace incredibly noisy. The crickets themselves are not easy to photograph because of the containers, but the customers make fascinating subjects.
Generally, the insect market and the neighbouring “antiques” market on Dongtai Road are overwhelmingly chaotic. The shop owners mostly do not object to having their pictures taken. They almost never speak English, and I do not speak Chinese, but smiling and pointing to the camera works very well and usually results in them nodding in approval.
The backstreet scenes in Shanghai are so multicoloured (not in a good way) that I find it useful to convert the photos to black-and-white (or other monochrome palette).
