The Chengdu Way of Eating Dumplings

My mother used to work near Shaocheng (Little City) in Chengdu, an area that was once part of the city’s original inner core. Back when Chengdu was much smaller than it is today, the city barely stretched beyond the First Ring Road, and most people lived and worked within its boundaries.

When I was little, there was no one else to look after me during the day, so my mother often brought me to work with her. At lunchtime, she would take out her stainless steel lunchbox, hold my hand, and walk me to a dumpling shop nearby.

Back then, people use lunch boxes like this to keep staple food and vegetables all packed together. Some people would take empty boxes to work to store food from canteen and restaurants.Credit: RED 94118958998

I still remember the first time I ate dumplings there. They were small, almost bite-sized. I finished each one in two bites. The wrappers were firm and pleasantly chewy, with a little thickness to them. The filling was pure pork, tender and juicy, fresh enough that each dumpling still held a bit of broth inside.

A very signature Chengdu dumpling, different from traditional dumplings from the north, we focus a lot on sauces and seasoning on the outside.

In Chengdu, one liang (50 grams) of dumplings usually means eight pieces. At only three years old, I somehow finished a full portion meant for a small adult woman. Then I carried my stainless steel bowl to my mother and told her I wanted more.

My mother was completely surprised and joked with the people around us about how much I loved these dumplings, half amused and half impressed that her child could eat so much. She ordered another liang , and I finished half of it. At the age of three, I had somehow achieved the impressive record of eating twelve dumplings in one sitting.

That dumpling shop is still open today. It is called He Dumplings (贺水饺). In China, restaurants are often named after the owner’s surname followed by the dish they specialize in, a habit especially common in Sichuan. One famous example known internationally is Chen Mapo Tofu.

The original He Dumplings shop opened on a street called Changshun Upper Street, inside a traditional Sichuan courtyard house with grey roof tiles. Changshun Street was once one of the main roads running through Shaocheng, the birthplace of Chengdu’s urban center, right next to today’s Kuanzhai Alley. It was also known for gathering many of Chengdu’s classic snack shops, including fuqi feipian (夫妻肺片, sliced beef and offal in chili sauce), crispy minced pork noodles, and Huaxing fried egg noodles.

30 years ago, Changshun Street in Chengdu was home to many of the city’s most iconic snack shops.

Around two hundred years ago, Sichuan experienced a major wave of migration and cultural mixing between northern and southern China. Among southern Chinese provinces, Sichuan still carries a somewhat “northern” food personality. Noodles, dumplings, and chaoshou (Sichuan wontons) are all part of everyday eating here.

In 1893, Chengdu developed its own distinctive dumpling style and flavor profile known as Zhong Dumplings (钟水饺). Many older Chengdu locals consider He Dumplings to be a smaller, more traditional version of Zhong Dumplings, preserving the original flavor.

Zhong Dumplings are very similar dumplings, with longer in shape and a bit different seasoning than He Dumplings.Credit: RED9617311749

In northern China, dumplings are one of the defining foods of wheat-based cuisine, and the ideal dumpling is often judged by having thin wrappers and generous fillings. Chengdu’s red chili oil dumplings, however, value something quite different: a thicker, chewier wrapper paired with red chili oil and a sweet soy sauce called fu zhi jiang you (复制酱油) or, compound soy sauce.

I have often wondered why. Partly, perhaps, because southern China, south of the Qinling Mountains, has historically been better suited for rice farming, while wheat quality was never as strong as the northern plains of central China. Sichuan wheat-based foods, whether breads, noodles, or dumplings, tend not to have the same elasticity or strong wheat aroma as northern flour products.

At the same time, Chengdu people are especially skilled at seasoning food to bring out the best qualities of an ingredient. As a result, sauces became one of the city’s most important culinary techniques.

Traditional Chengdu dumplings, like those at Zhong Dumplings and He Dumplings, are filled entirely with pork, unlike northern dumplings that often include vegetables or seafood. There is also a fun local story behind them. When curious customers once asked the Zhong brothers whether their dumplings were northern or southern style, they cleverly replied:

“Ours are neither northern nor southern, they are Zhong dumplings, better than both.”

The soul of Chengdu dumplings lies in the dipping sauce. It requires fu zhi sweet soy sauce , slowly simmered with brown sugar and spices, one of the essential seasonings of Sichuan noodles and cold dishes. A proper bowl of old Chengdu dumplings is dressed with spoonfuls of chili oil, sweet soy sauce, garlic water, sesame oil, and other seasonings, mixed directly into the bowl with the freshly boiled dumplings until every wrapper is coated before being eaten one by one.

First: Dumpling dipping sauce. | Second: Chengdu’s classic sweet red soy sauce (fu zhi hong jiang you)

Chengdu dumplings are wrapped tightly, each one pinched firmly by hand so that the meat and wrapper fit closely together. This gives the dumpling a chewy texture, where the bite feels compact and satisfying.

First: Chengdu dumplings are wrapped and boiled fresh to preserve texture. | Second: the filling uses lean pork, minced and mixed with ginger-scallion water, sesame oil, and stirred clockwise.

For 36 years, this small shop has continued serving only three items: red chili oil dumplings, steamed pork ribs with rice flour, and shredded kelp soup. To me, the taste has barely changed. It is places like this that allow a city and its people to stay emotionally connected across generations.

Recommended Old Chengdu Dumpling Shops

He Dumplings (贺水饺)

Address: No. 19 Jiaojia Alley, Qingyang District, Chengdu

Chunyang Dumplings (春阳水饺)

Address: No. 95 Jieren Road, Jinjiang District, Chengdu

author - Zhuang Zhencheng

Co-founder of Snout & Seek and FARLAND, ZhuangZhuang is passionate about understanding the local cultures of different ethnic groups through an anthropological lens. She aims to share the sustainable wisdom of these cultures with a wider audience through publications, products, and other methods. Zhuang enjoys photography, jazz music, cute animals, and Chinese traditional divination culture.

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