This weekend, we took a trip to Baoding — a city about 150 kilometers south of Beijing, in Hebei Province. Historically, it was once an influential city in northern China. Its most famous local snack is called donkey meat huoshao (驴肉火烧).

Legend has it that the dish originated as an energy-boosting meal for ancient soldiers. Back then, it was made with horse meat, but when the recipe spread to this region, donkey meat became the substitute — it was more abundant, more tender, and using it helped preserve the army’s horses.

Huoshao itself is a type of unleavened flatbread made with many thin layers. After baking, it’s sliced open and stuffed with braised donkey meat — a bit like a Chinese-style hamburger, except without cheese or lettuce, and with a distinctly Chinese flavor.

We’ve always enjoyed eating donkey meat huoshao. Baoding has many time-honored restaurants serving it, and most are quite good.

But this time, we discovered a creative new version — little donkey-shaped huoshao. It was invented by a young shop owner and quickly became popular, attracting visitors from nearby cities, esp. Beijing and Tianjin.

Of course, we tried it too — the shape may have changed, but the taste hasn’t: crispy layers of dough, tender and juicy filling, all freshly made and baked on site!

Another thing that drew us to Baoding was Lucky Film. Lucky is a Chinese film brand. Although production once ceased after digital cameras replaced film cameras, film photography has recently made a comeback among young people in China — and Lucky has reportedly resumed production.

We visited the headquarters of Lucky Film in Baoding, where part of the old factory complex has been transformed into an art district. It seems likely that more art exhibitions and events will be held there in the future.

At a local shopping mall, we even came across a Lucky-branded vending machine, where we bought a few rolls of film and a disposable film camera — the best souvenirs for this trip.