Sugar-coated lollipop in the Courtyard

The vibrantly coloured strawberries on a stick are called Bingtanghulu. It is a very popular Chinese snack, particularly during the winter months in Northern China. It is usually made with a bunch of fruits such as hawthorn, strawberry, or grape which are dipped in sugar coating. The sugar coating then becomes hard. It tastes both sweet and sour and can be icey too. My favourite is the strawberry bingtanghulu, because strawberries are my favourite fruit!

Taken with Canon 5D MK ii.
Special for #steemitphotochallenge

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The story behind the photo

Source

This photo is of a quadrangle courtyard in Beijing. The rooms in this quadrangle courtyard are like the strawberries in the candied fruit all bunched together. This is to maintain a feeling of closeness between all the families and yet each room remains independent of each other (there are no connecting doors). This makes the neighbourhood conducive to communication. This design of a neighbourhood brings communities closer to each other, just like the strawberries bunched together in Bingtanghulu. A very warm human touch!

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冰糖葫芦是北方冬天常见的传统小吃。一般用山楂、草莓、苹果、葡萄等新鲜水果串成，蘸上麦芽糖稀，糖稀遇风迅速变硬。吃起来酸甜爽口，还很冰。草莓一直是我的最爱，所以我喜欢草莓冰糖葫芦。 这张照片是我在北京的四合院里照的，而这四合院得房子也像是冰糖葫芦一样被串在一起，四合院把家家户户聚在一起，既维护了每家每户的独立性，又方便了邻里之间的交流，拉近人与人的距离，就像糖葫芦上的每一颗草莓，非常有人情味。