Linhai Wontons

Last updated 2026-11-08 — As night falls in Linhai, if you stroll along the small streets paved with bluestone slabs, you’ll hear the slow, monotonous, and dull sound of a bamboo clapper: “Duk—duk!” Don’t mistake it for the night watchman’s rounds—it’s actually the call of the wonton vendor carts that have existed in Linhai since before its liberation. In the past, both elders and children would recognize this “duk—duk…” sound as the signal that the elderly wonton seller was making his painstaking way down the street with his heavy cart. “Wontons, please.” Once the cart stopped, a child would hand over seven fen, and the vendor would swiftly pour a small amount of hot water into a bowl, scoop in the boiled wontons, then top them with shredded pork, chicken broth, winter bamboo shoots, and chopped leeks—what locals call the “topping.” This is the signature Linhai-style wonton.