Sister Song's Fish Soup [Photo/Zhejiang Daily]

As a world-famous traditional Hangzhou dish, Sister Song's Fish Soup ("Song Sao Yu Geng" in Chinese) dates back to the Southern Song Dynasty (1127–1279). It tastes like crab meat and is lustrous in color and creamy in taste.

After the overturn of the Northern Song (960–1127), the Northern Song royal court and its people retreated to Lin’an, or modern-day Hangzhou. Amongst those who followed was a woman nicknamed Sister Song.

She settled down along West Lake with her brother-in-law and tried to make a living fishing. On one occasion her brother-in-law had a bad cold and she made him a bowl of special soup with fish, pepper, ginger, wine, ham and vinegar. Her brother-in-law recovered shortly after he ate the fish soup.

A stone-carving work depicts the story of Sister Song's Fish Soup. [Photo/Zhejiang Daily]

Emperor Gaozong, the founding emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty, took a tour of West Lake, tasted the special fish soup, and spoke highly of it. Because of this, the soup's reputation spread far and wide, and came to be known as Sister Song's Fish Soup.