Chen Ailin and her dog Maodou

One thing I noticed in Beijing last year was how much more common it is for people to own dogs, especially bigger dogs. There were lots of people walking all sorts of little dogs on my run down Jianghan Street this morning, but this one caught my eye so I had a chat with his owner, Chen Ailin 陈爱琳. She told me that her dog Maodou 毛豆 (Hairy Bean) is 17 months old and has grown a lot from the puppy he was when she bought him for 3000 yuan. I have only seen apartments so far on our drives around Wuhan, no houses and few parks. I asked her where she lived and she pointed to the pink apartment block behind the glass office building. Living in a cramped apartment, Jianghan Street is Maodou’s recreation space – Ailin takes him out for walks there several times a day. No grass or free running and exploring for Maodou.