Xiao long bao        7/18/2008 1:16:57 AM

Xiǎolóngbāo (literally "little basket bun"; also known as soup dumpling[1] is a type of baozi (filled bun or bread-like item) from Eastern China, including Shanghai and Wuxi. These buns are traditionally steamed in bamboo baskets, hence the name.

Locally in Shanghai and surrounds, they are more often known as xiaolong mantou (traditional Chinese; simplified Chinese; pinyin: xiǎolóng mántóu, in shanghainese: Siolonmeudoe ). Mantou means both filled and unfilled buns in southern China, but only means unfilled buns in northern China. To avoid confusion, the name xiaolongbao is usually used in other areas.

Origins in Shanghai
The perennial queue outside the Nanxiang Mantou Dian in ShanghaiThe Shanghai version of the xiaolongbao were originally from a town called Nanxiang, a suburb of Shanghai in the Jiading District. The inventor of xiaolongbao originally sold them in his first store in Nanxiang next to the town's famous park, Guqi Garden.[citation needed] From there on it has expanded into downtown Shanghai and outwards. Two specialist Xiaolongbao restaurants are traditionally regarded as the most authentic.[citation needed] One is the Nanxiang Bun Shop (Nanxiang Mantou Dian), which derives from the original store in Nanxiang but now located in the City God Temple precinct, is famed for its crab meat-filled buns. Nanxiang Bun Shop has at least 105 years of history and has divisions opened in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Singapore[1]. The other is Gulong Restaurant, at the original site next to Guqi Garden in Nanxiang.