Nanjing‘s Jiming Soup Dumpling 鸡鸣汤包

Because of a recent historical TV series, I got to know about Jiming Temple 鸡鸣寺 in Nanjing, which was the capital of China for 6 different dynastic eras and as recent as Republic of China. But it wasn’t the temple that I was interested in, it was the famous soup dumplings.

Origin of Jiming soup dumplings

Jiming soup dumpling 鸡鸣汤包 refers to the classic chicken filling soup dumpling that used to be served at Jiming Restaurant (founded in 1955) near the Drum Tower in Nanjing that closed down in 2001. The current Jiming Soup Dumpling has nothing to do with that part of culinary history.¹

The dumpling was an adaptation of the Suzhou-style xiaolongbao by pastry chef Ju Yingen 居银根 of Jiming Restaurant, when the Mayor of Nanjing at that time asked him to join the restaurant in 1958.² So Jiming soup dumpling cannot be “since 1955”. ³

Although it is called Jiming Soup Dumpling 鸡鸣汤包, this restaurant is actually a newcomer that was opened in 2014. Their association to the original one? The executive chef’s father used to work for Ju Yingen.⁴

Zhu Qi 朱其, owner and chef of 旺点鸡鸣汤包 sold the brand in 2014 to Zhang Jiajun 张家军 who registered the trademark “鸡鸣汤包” under the F&B group 南京驻客庭美餐饮管理有限公司 and brought the handmade soup dumpling into the 21st century with central kitchens and modern operations.

Mum, why’re the dumplings upside down?

I have no idea why these days in China, everything has to be related to some kind of UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage 非文化遗传 tagging. This soup dumpling IMHO has nothing to do with ICH. Authentic Jiming dumplings must have the twirl (where the chef twirl to close up the dumpling as they fold the filling into the wrapper) facing down. The one in the middle was facing up.

There’s a method to enjoy these dumplings as a connoisseur – “轻轻提，慢慢移，先开窗，后喝汤”. First you gently lift the dumpling off the steamer basket onto a spoon or saucer. If you break it, the soup will spill all over the place. Then, you shift the dumpling to the side and then punch a small hole. The soup inside the dumpling will ooze out of the thin wrapper, and then you drink the soup. Nanjing flavour is more savoury than Shanghai xiaolongbao. After you suck the dumpling dry, you can dip the rest in vinegar and eat it with or without shredded ginger.

The set meal came with half a dozen of the dumplings, a bowl of the “Gold Medal” duck blood jelly and vermicelli soup 金牌鸭血粉丝汤 and a bowl of double boiled pear soup 小吊梨汤. The pear soup was pretty bland (not sweet) and diluted (no pear taste).

But the duck blood jelly soup was really good. The soup had a pleasant peppery duck stock flavour and the ingredients (duck blood jelly, shredded duck gizzards, liver, intestines and puff tofu cubes) were quite generous and well-seasoned.

Because it was so good, I bought the instant versions that came with a vacuum packed of the ingredients, so you can replicate the experience at home.

Besides the original flavours, this soup has also come up with many other variations of the soup dumplings, like truffle, sea urchin, etc. Like this crowd pleaser, giant crab roe soup dumpling 超大手拆蟹黄灌汤包.

OK, this giant dumpling was a let-down compared to the chicken soup dumpling. The soup was rather fishy, and the amount of crab roe was pathetic.

The daughter of Ju Yingen and another chef started a dumpling restaurant that was originally called Lao Jiming Soup Dumpling 老鸡鸣汤包⁵, but lost the IP lawsuit and changed their name to Xu Jianping dumpling 徐建萍汤包.⁶ They would be the one that is closest to the original flavours. The rest are all pretenders.

PS : Usually I would not have a footnote in my food posts, but the origin story of Jiming soup dumpling is really interesting and I do not want to give the wrong idea, so I listed the sources of information.

1. The history of Jiming soup dumpling came mainly from this article in Zhihu https://www.zhihu.com/question/37132553, accessed 15 Dec 2025. ↩︎
2. 老南京人都记得鼓楼大转盘对面有个“鸡鸣酒家”。1958 年，为推进南京小吃的发展，时任中共江苏省委书记处书记、南京市委第一书记彭冲特地从苏州请来大厨居银根师傅，到鸡鸣酒家做汤包。苏师傅在原苏式汤包的基础上，运用发面工艺，选用上等猪肉，研制出了甜中带咸、咸中带鲜的鸡鸣汤包，成为了南京一道经典小吃。http://dag.nanjing.gov.cn/dawh/dags/202507/P020250702390815665201.pdf, accessed 15 Dec 2025 ↩︎
3. 鸡鸣汤包源于南京鸡鸣酒家，最初由苏州点心师傅居银根在传统苏式汤包基础上改良而成，采用发面工艺并调整馅料配比，形成甜中带咸的独特风味 [3] [7-8]。其名称源自1958年鸡鸣酒家的首次推出 [7]，品牌可追溯至20世纪五十年代 [8]。https://baike.baidu.com/item/鸡鸣汤包/60251610, accessed 15 Dec 2025 ↩︎
4. “鸡鸣汤包”起源与上世纪50年代的南京鸡鸣酒家，几十年的口碑铸就“鸡鸣汤包”成为南京特色小吃一绝，成为南京人的历史记忆。2001年鸡鸣酒家解散，本案申请人南京驻客庭美餐饮管理有限公司的法定代表人张家军先生对于老品牌的消失感到惋惜，即决定将经典传承下去，立志将“鸡鸣汤包”做成南京的著名品牌。2003年即在南京市新街口的明瓦廊开办第一家“鸡鸣汤包”店，“鸡鸣汤包”为其主营特色食品。申请人2003年起，以“鸡鸣”文字为基础，设计出一只向左鸣啼的雄鸡图案与文字“鸡鸣汤包”组合使用，2009年申请人在第30类包子等商品上注册“鸡鸣”文字商标，2014年初图形商标升级为“”。
   https://www.wanhuida.com/Content/2024/11-06/1740414514.html, accessed 15 Dec 2025 ↩︎
5. 南京究竟哪家鸡鸣汤包是以前鸡鸣酒家正宗的？ – 舟小九的回答 – 知乎
   https://www.zhihu.com/question/37132553/answer/2465419784 ↩︎
6. 南京鸡鸣汤包回原址重张 梅婷现场学艺（图） 2014年09月29日 14:15　来源：现代快报
   一度因为商标的问题，这三家起过纷争。哪家最正宗？三家都自称有祖传配方，味道更正宗、地道。现代快报此前独家报道过，实际上，这三家店都或多或少与鸡鸣酒家有着联系。比如，原来的“老鸡鸣汤包”，老板徐建萍是当年鸡鸣酒家汤包名师居银根的女儿；太平门的“鸡鸣汤包”，老板耿娟的父亲，是当年鸡鸣酒家的员工，参与过汤包馅料的制作。旺点鸡鸣汤包的汤包馅料“掌门人”朱庆，当年也跟随父亲在鸡鸣酒家工作，父亲也熟知汤包的制作过程。
   　　最后，“旺点鸡鸣汤包”的合伙人张家军成功注册了商标“鸡鸣”，这一纷争暂告一段落。张家军当时表示，只要其他两家在原址上不扩大经营范围，就不会考虑起诉。https://www.chinanews.com.cn/cul/2014/09-29/6643142.shtml, accessed 15 Dec 2025 ↩︎