Listening to her story, how could one help leaving the restaurant with a profound sense of sadness? That's why, and to get a different point of view, we decided to have dinner at Dexingguan (德兴馆) the following day. This establishment, located in Dongmen Lu, in Nanshi District and established in 1883, is one of Shanghai's most famous eateries.

　　Among its more famous (not to say infamous) customers was Du Yuesheng, (杜月笙, 1888 - 1952), a gangster boss (大亨, da heng) who was born into a poor family in the Shanghai countryside. He didn't much like the smell of poverty, though, and decided to work his way up in of one of the big gangster syndicates, getting rich through organising the sale of opium.

　　With no shortage of money to spend, he liked his food, by all accounts. One of his favourites, it is said, was caotou quanzi (草头圈子), toothed burclover with pig's intestines. Toothed burclover, a plant growing wild on fields, is a rare delicacy indeed, and the dish is not easy to prepare. First, the vegetable is fried, then the intestines are added, having themselves been fried in soy sauce and garlic. All that work is well worth the effort, however, and the result both looks appetising and tastes delicious. This kind of food, a speciality of the Dexingguan, is known as liangdao cai (两道菜), in other words a dish prepared with two contrasting kinds of ingredients.

　　The restaurant is a haven for lovers of pork, another of its famous preparations being zaobotou (糟钵头), pig's intestines in broth, but there are plenty of other things on the menu. Finding oneself in a place such as this, one can easily end up thinking: 'If only my Chinese were better!'

　　Unfortunately, my friends and I were not there at the right time to try another of the Dexingguan's specialities, guihua nuomi niangao (桂花糯米年糕), New Year's cakes made from glutinous rice, with sweet-scented osmanthus. Maybe next year? I hope so, anyway.

　　With so many more delicacies on the menu than one could ever hope to try on one short visit, one certainly got the feeling that Lao Du knew a good place to eat when he saw one, even while China was going through a long period of turmoil. Apart from liking his food, Lao Du is reported to have been more than partial to the fairer sex, with a total of four wives, as well as countless lovers, but that's another story.

　　I left Shanghai the following day, lucky to have got a seat on the train back to Nanjing.