Zhangshu Wonton Soup 樟树清汤
Zhangshu Wonton Soup is featured among the local specialties of Jiangxi.
Zhangshu Wonton Soup (樟树清汤) is the wonton snack of Zhangshu (樟树), the Jiangxi city long known as a "medicine capital". In Zhangshu the word qingtang, literally "clear soup", names the wontons themselves, which are also called houzi baomian (猴子包面), "monkey wontons". The craft of making them is on Yichun's municipal list of intangible cultural heritage.
How it is made
A lively rhyme sums the dish up: "竹膜纸、包丁香，一投投进了赣江，风吹波浪起，赶紧用碗装" ("bamboo-skin paper wrapped round a clove, tossed into the Gan River; when the wind raises waves, quick, fetch a bowl"). The Yichun culture and tourism bureau's heritage database explains the rhyme. The wrappers are as thin as the membrane inside a bamboo stem, and the filling is bright red, likened to a clove. The wontons go into a large pot of water, as if thrown into the Gan River (赣江). Once the water boils and the wontons are pushed up to float on the surface, they are scooped straight into bowls that already hold the seasoning, and the hot, fragrant bowl is ready.
Where it comes from
Zhangshu qingtang has been made since the late Ming and early Qing, and the heritage database describes it as a long-renowned traditional snack that has been listed among China's famous snacks. On Yichun's municipal list the making craft is item 9-VIII-15 in the ninth batch, under traditional crafts, nominated by Zhangshu.
The dish has also found a place in the city's medicinal cuisine. On 23 September 2025, China News Service reported that an "old-style" Zhangshu qingtang was chosen as one of 20 core dishes of Zhangbang medicinal cuisine (樟帮药膳). When Zhangshu hosted a Jiangxi football league match in August 2025, Jiangxi Daily reported qingtang among the local foods that visiting fans made a point of trying.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer on 2026-09-24. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.