🌿 Folk Prescriptions

Since the arrival of autumn, temperatures have remained persistently high. Facing the sweltering weather, Guangzhou residents remain calm and composed, continuing their tradition of simmering herbal soups to cool down and moisturize. The passion for soup-making among locals seems even stronger this year.
Although the Start of Autumn has passed and the Autumnal Equinox is approaching, during this season of clear skies and refreshing breezes, the enthusiasm for soup-making among Guangzhou people appears to be intensifying. Indeed, Guangzhou’s reputation for soup-making is renowned nationwide—not only for its color, aroma, and flavor, but also for its emphasis on seasonal adaptation and timely tonification, with different varieties suited to each season.
For instance, this current period has seen continuously rising temperatures since autumn began, showing no signs of decline. Under such extreme heat, people naturally feel irritable and prone to internal fire. But worry not—Guangzhou locals simply turn to "Clear and Nourishing Soup," which is truly a favorite at this time. Today, various brands of Clear and Nourishing Soup packs are highly sought-after items in supermarkets. A small soup pack contains a full array of ingredients: lotus seeds, Chinese yam, lilyturf root, coix seed, lily, red dates, Job's tears, and honey dates. Add pork bones, and you get a delicious, cooling, and fire-reducing soup. For Guangzhou residents with specific soup preferences, this is undoubtedly the best choice.
This autumn, besides persistently high temperatures, dryness remains a defining feature. Given Guangzhou people’s focus on functional soups, those that are cooling and moisturizing are now top picks. In supermarkets, I’ve observed various ingredients with moisturizing properties being included in soup packs for sale, and countless citizens are choosing these types. Ingredients like Fritillaria bulbs, bitter apricot kernels, and bitter almonds help dissolve phlegm and moisten lungs; dragon’s beard flower clears heart heat and moistens lungs; sea coconut nourishes throat, moisturizes, and enhances complexion. These materials are commonly used as main ingredients in soup packs. In some major supermarkets, such packs account for up to 90% of all fresh soup packs. Sea coconut with winter melon, carrot; sea coconut with duck; sea coconut with tomato and pork; sea coconut with chicken feet; sea coconut with softshell turtle; sea coconut with fish head; sea coconut with lotus root—over ten varieties, all using sea coconut as the primary ingredient, clearly indicating that moisturizing and beautifying soups are the preferred choices among today’s citizens.
The Autumnal Equinox brings cooler nights. As the weather turns colder, it becomes an ideal time for tonification. Although cold weather hasn’t yet arrived, savvy Guangzhou residents have already begun preparing for winter tonification. Supermarkets have prominently displayed various functional dried soup packs to attract customers planning to start tonifying. The variety is vast: Blood-Nourishing Qi-Boosting Soup, Return-to-Origin Health Soup, Steamed Cordyceps Duck, Tianma Brain-Toning Soup, Lingzhi Kidney-Strengthening Soup, Mountain Delicacy Ginseng Chicken, Duzhong Waist-Strengthening Kidney-Tonifying Soup, Monkey Head Mushroom Liver-Soothing and Vision-Enhancing Soup—truly endless options.
Supermarkets are capitalizing on the soup pack market by offering convenience, and restaurants and eateries are no exception. Besides traditional soup offerings, new varieties are numerous. In a specialty soup shop near Xiaobei, I noticed five or six new menu items listed, clearly signaling readiness for the autumn-winter tonification season.
With such a wide range of options and diverse functions, what kinds of soups do citizens actually prefer? Are they fickle and always chasing novelty, or do they favor certain types? Several shoppers at the supermarket stated that their soup choices depend mainly on the weather—moisture-rich soups when dry, cooling and fire-reducing soups when hot—with no particular favorites. Others mentioned selecting soups based on actual needs to achieve therapeutic goals through diet. Survey results indicate most people aren’t overly fond of novelty; they don’t exclusively drink newly launched soups. “When dining out, we might try new varieties, but at home, we usually choose based on our needs—what matters most is suitability for the season and convenience.”