A rich, slow-simmered soup of costly dried seafood such as abalone, sea cucumber, scallop and fish maw, with chicken, pork and mushrooms. Restaurants serve it in small jars, one per person.
Buddha Jumps Over the Wall contains abalone, sea cucumber, shark fin, and fish maw.
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culture
Fuzhou 福州 signature dish from the late Qing. Legend: a scholar, smelling the simmering pot from over the wall of 聚春园 restaurant, improvised a poem - 坛启荤香飘四邻,佛闻弃禅跳墙来 ('the jar opens, meaty scent drifts to the neighbours; a Buddha catches wind of it, abandons meditation and jumps the wall'). The name stuck. Traditionally simmered in a Shaoxing-wine jar over low heat for half a day.