A deep white porcelain bowl holds fine pale wheat noodles in clear amber broth, with green chopped scallion scattered over the noodles and broth surface, with a pair of wooden chopsticks resting beside the bowl.
Noodles made by rolling a dough into a thin sheet and cutting it into strips.
Yangchun noodles are a soup noodle without toppings: fine noodles in a clear broth, with lard, soy sauce and scallion in the bowl, also called plain noodles or clear broth noodles. They are common in Taiwan, Jiangsu and Shanghai; an August 19, 2020 column discusses them in Shanghai, and a 2026 recipe includes this everyday dish of Jiangnan, especially Shanghai. There are 2 folk explanations of the name: a bowl cost 10 wen and yangchun was slang for 10, or it comes from the song title Yangchun Baixue. No dated text was found, so this entry does not say when it began.
What
Yangchun noodles are fine noodles in a clear broth, with lard and soy sauce in the bowl and scallion on top, and no other toppings. They come in soup and dry versions and are also called plain noodles or clear broth noodles.1,3,4
When
A Shanghai author's August 19, 2020 column recalls plain noodles like these in Shanghai snack shops in the 1960s and 1970s; this is personal memory, and no dated record establishing the dish's origin was found.2
Where
Yangchun noodles are common in Taiwan, Jiangsu and Shanghai. Sold in Shanghai snack shops, they also appear in a 2026 recipe as an everyday dish of Jiangnan, especially Shanghai.1,2,3,4
How
One preparation uses broth made with bones and lard, scallion, and noodles rinsed in cold water after cooking. Of 2 other recipes, one puts lard and seasonings in the bowl, pours in hot chicken broth and adds the noodles; the other uses sesame oil instead of lard and boils the noodles 1 minute short of the package time.2,3,4
Why
With no toppings in the bowl, the quality of the broth and the skill of the cook show on tasting.2
Impact and influence
It is a plain snack-shop bowl, though tastes later shifted toward noodles with richer toppings. This everyday food of Jiangnan also appears in a 2026 recipe.2,3,4
The tale goes that in old Shanghai street slang the number ten was called yangchun, and a bowl of plain noodles cost ten wen, so the noodles took the name. The tenth lunar month is also called the little spring, and some people use that to explain the name.
Told in: A folk explanation told in Shanghai: the column in The Paper of August 19, 2020 gives ten wen a bowl, and Chinese Wikipedia presents the ten-cent bowl story as a folk explanation and cites a dictionary on the little spring as the tenth lunar month. No dated original text is given for any of these.
Yangchun Baixue
Another telling takes the name from the old song title Yangchun Baixue: the soup is clear and the noodles are white, plain as snow. The column's author says he does not mind which version is true.
Told in: A folk explanation from Shanghai, told in the column in The Paper of August 19, 2020, which gives no dated original text.
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
This is a single serving I make at home, the plain noodle soup of Jiangnan. Lard, soy sauce and a little sugar go in the bowl before anything else, hot chicken broth is poured over, and cooked fine noodles go in. The amounts of lard, dark soy sauce and sugar follow one signed recipe; the amount of broth and boiling the noodles 1 minute short of the package time follow another signed recipe, which uses sesame oil in place of lard; I borrow just a few drops of it. I use half the light soy sauce of the lard recipe and season by tasting.
Ingredients
Dried thin wheat noodles 100 g
Chicken broth, hot 500 ml
Lard 1 tablespoon
Light soy sauce 1 tablespoon
Dark soy sauce 1/4 teaspoon
Sugar 1/4 teaspoon
Sesame oil a few drops
Scallion 1, sliced
Steps
Put the lard, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar and sesame oil in a large bowl.
Bring the chicken broth to a boil and keep it very hot.
Boil a separate pot of water, cook the noodles for 1 minute less than the package says, then lift them out and drain.
Put the noodles in the bowl, pour the boiling broth over, scatter on the scallion and eat at once.
Tips
Broths differ in saltiness, so I always taste the broth before deciding how much soy sauce to use; this is my own habit.
Noodles keep softening in hot broth, so I cook them a minute short and serve them right away; this is my own way.
