Yantian Seafood Food Street

This guide to Yantian Seafood Food Street in Shenzhen follows the Danjia, the boat people who once lived their entire lives on this bay, fishing, marrying and raising children without ever setting foot on land. It traces a fish-print tradition, now recognized as intangible cultural heritage, in which a freshly caught fish is pressed against a surface to leave behind an image meant as a blessing for the day's catch. The narration reaches back to records of the community from the Qing dynasty's Kangxi era, when as many as a thousand fishing boats crowded this same stretch of water. Listen for how that old blessing still shapes the way this waterfront works today.