[Beijing Diary] Where Did Tanghulu Come From?

Tanghulu seems to be gaining extraordinary popularity in Korea. At the National Assembly's audit, the representative of a Tanghulu franchise was summoned, and due to sugar crumbs that attract bugs and troublesome wooden skewers, 'No Tanghulu Zones' have even emerged.

Where did Tanghulu, the center of attention, come from? As most know, Tanghulu is a traditional Chinese snack. The name itself is originally Chinese, and its pronunciation in Chinese characters is Tanghulu (糖葫蘆), meaning sugar-coated gourd. It is named after its round gourd-like shape; there are various theories that the name comes from the shape resembling a gourd, or from the practice of dipping the fruit in boiled sugar syrup in a gourd-shaped container.

A tanghulu vendor is riding a bicycle through downtown Beijing, China. (Photo by Kim Hyunjung)

According to Baidu, China's largest portal site, Tanghulu was created during the reign of Emperor Guangzong, the third emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty who ascended the throne in 1187. His favored concubine, surnamed Huang, fell ill and was unable to eat properly, gradually wasting away. Feeling sorry for her pale appearance, Emperor Guangzong searched for a doctor to cure her illness. A physician appeared and prescribed eating 5 to 10 pieces of hawthorn fruit boiled in rock sugar before meals, promising recovery within half a month. The concubine was cured by this method, and the recipe spread among the people, giving birth to the snack known as Tanghulu. This is the most widely known origin story in China, although no authoritative documents confirming it as fact have been found.

In Korea, various premium fruits such as very sweet Sapphire grapes, Shine Muscat grapes, and pineapples are used, but most Tanghulu sold in China still use hawthorn fruit as in the original recipe. The taste is tangy and slightly sweet. Hawthorn fruit is traditionally known as a medicinal ingredient that aids digestion and treats chronic enteritis, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and vomiting.

A vendor is making strawberry tanghulu at a traditional market in Leshan, Sichuan Province, China. The ingredients piled up at the bottom left are hawthorn berries. (Photo by Kim Hyunjung)

The status of Tanghulu in China is quite different from that in Korea. As with anything called 'national,' it is widely recognized but not particularly popular. It is commonly seen on the streets and is not considered a high-end dessert; it resembles junk food that children pester their parents to buy reluctantly. While some shops make and sell it directly, most vendors buy Tanghulu wholesale somewhere and sell it from bicycles, exposed to exhaust fumes and dust by the roadside. Tanghulu bicycles appear without fail in popular tourist spots, and prices range from 1,000 to 3,000 won per skewer depending on the ingredients. In fact, during my year living in Beijing, I never saw anyone enjoying Tanghulu as a particularly delicious treat. In China, it is simply a familiar, habitual taste.

An interesting fact revealed late is that many Chinese documents describe the physician who prescribed Tanghulu to Concubine Huang as a 'quack doctor (江湖郞中).' Assuming the story is based on truth, in 2023 Korea, a sugar snack recipe developed by a quack doctor from the Southern Song Dynasty is causing a sensation.