Chinatown Wet Market Series IV: Murders @ Chinatown

As i walked through the wet market of Chinatown, besides hearing the shoutings of the hawkers and barginings of aunties, a series of faint 'thuds' noises can be heard in the background.

"Can you hear the clubbing?", Francis asked. I didn't really get what he means initially, but everything came into full view as we walked through the market. In one corner of the market, i saw a huge fish lying on the floor with it's assailant on top. Mr fish is huge, about 1.5m in length. It was struggling, jumping, wriggling away, trying to escape from the clutches of it's assailant. Mr Fishmonger used his right knee to press the fish flat on the ground while he reaches for a club with his right hand. Raised high up in the air, he brought down the club on the fish's head with full force.' Thud'... The fish was still struggling... "Thud-Thud".. The fish became motionless. The fish was losing it's life. The fish lost it's life. Mr Fishmonger carried the the fish away, getting it ready to be chopped. I was quite dumbfounded at the scene. Not that i've never eaten a fish, it's just that i've never seen people killing fishes in such a manner before. I'm not accusing Mr Fishmonger of being cruel, it's just that i've never seen it before.

As he dragged the fish away by it's tail, i took a few steps forward to observe the spot which Mr Fish was killed. The tiles are stained with blood. I took a a few shots of that spot and the tools of murder before moving away to explore other parts of the market.

These are the clubs that were used to club the fishes

This was the exact spot which the fish was clubbed to death. The tiles are still stained with fresh blood.

This is the place where the smaller fishes are chopped up and diced for customers. Beside the chopping board is a pair of pincers which is used to extract the innards of the fishes before chopping them up.

As i was gathering outside the market with other photographers, i found a headless chick corpse lying dead on top of a trash bag. Dead bodies are found everywhere in this market.