Jiming Soup Dumplings 鸡鸣汤包
Jiming Soup Dumplings is featured among the local specialties of Jiangsu.
Jiming Soup Dumplings (鸡鸣汤包) are steamed soup dumplings from Nanjing (南京), named after the Jiming Restaurant (鸡鸣酒家), which stood facing the Gulou (鼓楼) roundabout. The restaurant's soup dumplings date from 1958 and were made to a Suzhou (苏州) chef's recipe adapted to Nanjing tastes.
Where it comes from
In 1958, on the proposal of the mayor Peng Chong (彭冲), a group of shops and amenities opened around Gulou Square, among them the Jiming Restaurant. Its soup dumplings were made by Ju Yingen (居银根), a noted chef from Suzhou. Starting from the Suzhou-style soup dumpling, he used a leavened dough and good-quality pork and arrived at a flavour that is sweet with a salty edge and salty with a savoury depth. Older diners remember the restaurant as a household name in Nanjing alongside Dasanyuan (大三元), Laoguangdong (老广东) and Maxiangxing (马祥兴), with queues of one to two hours for the dumplings.
The restaurant was pulled down from 2001 for city construction work. According to Ju's daughter Xu Jianping (徐建萍), who made dumplings there too, they were simply called tangbao at the time; the name Jiming Tangbao came later. At least three Nanjing dumpling shops afterwards used the Jiming name, each with some link to the old restaurant, and a partner in one of them registered the Jiming trademark in 2010. In 2014 a restaurant on the old site, now Zifeng Plaza (紫峰广场), brought back Jiming Restaurant soup dumplings with filling supplied by Xu Jianping.
How it is made
A chef teaching the method in 2014 said to put in plenty of filling, pleat the wrapper and then give it a toss. Then comes their most distinctive feature: once wrapped, the dumplings are turned over and set in the steamer upside down, which the chef summed up as 'big and plump, navel facing down'.
How it is eaten
They are eaten the way the saying goes: lift gently, move slowly, open a window first, then drink the soup.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and fact-checked against them on 2026-09-24. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.
Image credits & notes (1)
- Reference photo of a similar dish · 同类菜品参考照片A similar preparation is pictured; the local version may differ. 同类菜品参考照片，当地做法可能不同。Photo: Peachyeung316 · CC BY-SA 4.0Resized for the web; the photo itself has not been edited. Thumbnails may show a cropped view.
