Sauces and Pastes · FFET10384
Shrimp paste and shrimp sauce (xiajiang)
Shrimp paste is cooked and seasoned into sauce for steamed pork, stir-fried water spinach and fried rice.
Soy sauce, bean and flour pastes, sesame paste and fish sauce.
Raw shrimp paste is distinct from the dark brown sauce produced by cooking and seasoning it, which is used in steamed pork, stir-fried water spinach and fried rice. The raw paste is common along China's southern coast and on the Jiaodong Peninsula; in 2025, a family workshop was still making shrimp paste and shrimp sauce in Tai O, Hong Kong.
What
Raw shrimp paste is distinct from the cooked and seasoned sauce, which is dark brown and can be added directly to stir-fries.1
When
Volume 8 of the Northern Wei agricultural manual Qimin Yaoshu describes making shrimp sauce by mixing shrimp with cooked rice, salt and water and placing it in the sun. Its composition year is unverified, so this passage cannot establish an earliest date or the origins of today's regional shrimp sauces. A February 16, 2025 report dates the founding of a Tai O family workshop to 1938.2,3
Where
Raw shrimp paste is common along China's southern coast and on the Jiaodong Peninsula, with a production workshop also in Tai O, Hong Kong. Related shrimp-oil production occurs in Fujian and Chaoshan.1,3,4
How
One seasoning method involves dry-roasting the paste, then cooking it with shallots, garlic and fish sauce. Shrimp sauce is used in steamed pork, stir-fried water spinach and fried rice.1
Why
Shrimp sauce is used in steamed pork, stir-fried water spinach and fried rice.1
Impact and influence
As of 2025, only a few licensed makers remained in Hong Kong. The reported inclusion of the shrimp paste and shrimp sauce making craft in Hong Kong's Intangible Cultural Heritage Inventory in 2014 has not been verified against the inventory itself.1,3