Five plump pan-fried pork buns sit on a round white plate, their cream-white tops sprinkled with sesame and scallion and their bases fried golden, with a pair of wooden chopsticks beside the plate.
Leavened dough steamed into plain buns, filled buns and rolls.
Shengjian bao, also called shengjian mantou, are small pleated buns set seam side down in an oiled flat pan and cooked with added water, which gives a crisp base and a soft top. They originated in Suzhou, with proposed dates in the early 20th century or early 1910s, and reached Shanghai in the 1920s, where they were sold in tea houses and at hot-water stalls; these dates come from later accounts, including an April 2026 official feature, and no contemporary record was found. There are 2 common styles in Shanghai: "hun shui," with pork-skin aspic that makes the filling soupy, and "qing shui."
What
Shengjian bao, in full shengjian mantou, are small pork buns. They are set seam side down in an oiled flat pan and fried with added water to a crisp base while the top stays soft, and are usually finished with scallion and sesame.1,2,3,5,6
When
Shengjian bao originated in Suzhou, with proposed dates in the early 20th century or early 1910s, and spread to other parts of Jiangsu and Zhejiang and to Shanghai in the 1920s, where it was sold in tea houses and at hot-water stalls. Da Hu Chun opened in 1932. The origin dates come from later accounts, including an April 2026 official feature; the listed sources contain no contemporary text, so these dates remain claims.1,2
Where
Shanghai and the Jiangnan area; the origin is placed in Suzhou.1,2,3
How
The dough is usually semi-leavened with an old starter, and some makers use fully leavened or unleavened dough; accounts differ on which dough goes with which style. The filling is mainly pork, and the "hun shui" style adds pork-skin aspic, so the bun is soupy when bitten. Water is sprinkled in several times while frying, and scallion and sesame go on before the buns come out.1,2,3,5,6
Why
It began as a cheap snack at tea houses and hot-water stalls. In the Wu-speaking area the word mantou kept its older sense of a filled bun, which explains the name shengjian mantou.1,2,3
Impact and influence
Shengjian bao are an everyday Shanghai breakfast, sold by the liang, 1 liang being 4 buns. Xiao Yang (Yang's Fry-Dumpling) has operated since 1994 and had 212 stores by May 2018, serving thin-skinned, soupy buns.1,2,3,4
The story goes that in Republic-era Shanghai a neighborhood bun stall was brought into the Luochunge teahouse so that guests could eat while watching a show. A rival shop then opened across the road, and the friendly rivalry helped spread the snack across Shanghai. Chinese Wikipedia names Huang Chujiu as the owner who brought it into Luochunge.
Told in: A Shanghai tale told in a trade-media article; Chinese Wikipedia names Huang Chujiu. No contemporary record of it was found.
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
In the shops, shengjian are prized for thin skins and soup. This is the simpler way I make them at home: pork filling alone, no pork-skin aspic, so there is less soup than in a shop, and a dough raised with yeast instead of an old starter. The amounts and timings below are my own choices at home, adapted from two published recipes.
Ingredients
All-purpose flour 300 g
Warm water, for the dough 160 ml, not hot to the touch
Instant yeast 3 g
Sugar, for the dough 8 g
Salt, for the dough 1 g
Ground pork (some fat) 250 g
Water, for the filling 80 ml, added in three portions
Light soy sauce 15 ml
Cooking wine 10 ml
Sugar, for the filling 5 g
Salt, for the filling 2 g
Sesame oil 5 ml
Chopped scallion from 2 stalks
Cooking oil, for frying 30 ml
Water, for frying about 100 ml
Toasted white sesame seeds 1 tablespoon
Steps
Put the flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a bowl and add 160 ml of warm water in portions, kneading to a smooth dough. Cover and leave in a warm place. I give it about 30 minutes, until it is clearly bigger and springs back slowly when pressed.
Make the filling: mix the ground pork with the soy sauce, wine, sugar, salt and sesame oil, and stir in one direction until it turns sticky. Add the 80 ml of water in three portions, waiting until the meat has taken up each portion, then stir in half the scallion.
Knead the risen dough a few times to push out the air, roll it into a rope and cut it into 20 pieces of about 23 g each. Flatten each into a round that is a little thicker in the middle and thinner at the edge.
Put about 18 g of filling, roughly a tablespoon, on each round, pleat it closed and pinch the seam tight.
Heat a flat pan with a lid over medium heat, add the 30 ml of oil, turn the heat to medium-low and set the buns in seam side down, close together but with a little space between. Fry until the bases turn golden.
Pour about 100 ml of water in along the edge of the pan, to about a third of the height of the buns, cover, and cook until the water has almost gone. Sprinkle on the rest of the scallion and the sesame, fry another minute or two until the bases are crisp, then lift the buns out.
Before serving I cut one bun open to check: the pork must be fully cooked, with no pink left and clear juices.
Tips
I always add the water to the filling in portions so it does not turn runny; a runny filling is hard to seal and can split in the pan. That is my own way.
My version has no pork-skin aspic, so there is less soup than in a shop. If you want to try it, dice some ready-made aspic into the filling and use a little less water.
Picks come from public lists and guides and were checked on the dates shown; places can change, so confirm before you go.
Da Hu Chun
Shanghai
Order: Shengjian bao
The Shanghai municipal government's feature of 30 April 2026 lists Da Hu Chun as a shop for the "qing shui" style and says it opened in 1932. It is a place to see that style.
The Shanghai municipal government's feature of 30 April 2026 mentions Dong Tai Xiang's semi-fermented dough technique and treats it as an inherited craft.
