Hainan Qing Pu Liang Cooling Dessert & the Lost Nan Yue Kingdom • History of Ching Bo Leung 清補涼历史 • 趙佗神汤

When you are in China's humid tropical Hainan island, you will see a ubiquitous watery sweet dessert known as qing pu liang 清補涼 which literally means cleansing, nourishing, and cooling.

It is a sugary liquid concoction filled with different combinations of various grains and nuts such as coconut flesh, gingko nuts, red beans, green beans, dates, barley, etc. The liquid can be jaggery syrup, coconut milk, coconut water or a blend of them. Crushed ice or shaved ice make the tasty dessert cold and refreshing.

For tourists, it is a life saver from southern China's stifling, oppressive, humid, tropical climate. It was for the same reasons that qing pu liang was concocted 2200 years ago.

The origin of ching pu liang is hazy but according to one food lore (no documentary evidence) the cooling dessert is as old as China itself.

In 221 BC, Emperor Qin Shi Huang defeated all six rival kingdoms in China's Central Plains 中原 to create a unified China for the first time. The emperor's next ambition was to subdue the northern and southern "barbarians". The nomadic Xiongnu controlled the steppes in the north. In the south, the hundred Yue tribes 百越 controlled the tropical rainforests. Both challenging terrain for the ethnic Han plainsmen.

When the Qin armies arrived in the south, the terrain and climate posed even greater challenges than the Yue armies. Central Plain troops unaccustomed to the southern humidity and heat fell sick and lethargic.

Zhao Tuo 趙佗, one of the Qin generals leading the Qin army (with the help of his physician) concocted a cleansing, nourishing, and cooling soup for his troops. The Qin armies managed to defeat the Yue armies and brought the south under unified China.

General Zhao Tuo's wonder soup 趙佗神汤 remained to this day as qing pu liang or ching po leung.

Next time you are in Hainan enjoying a cooling bowl of qing pu liang, remember Zhao Tuo, the legendary general who created it over 2000 years ago.

In 206 BC, the Qin dynasty collapsed and China again disintegrated into a chaotic melee of disparate, feuding kingdoms.

The southern territories too took the opportunity to breakaway and Zhao Tuo declared the kingdom of Nan Yue 南粵 with himself the emperor.

The Nan Yue kingdom with its capital city in Pan Yu 番禺 (which became a district in today's Guangzhou city) lasted 93 years and five generations. At its height, Nan Yue's domain stretched west to central Vietnam and east to today's Fujian province.

Zhou Tuo, Nan Yue's founder and first emperor ruled for 75 years till his death at the ripe old age of 103 in 137 BC. Zhao Tuo was the longest reigning monarch in human history.

Liu Bang, founder and first emperor of Han dynasty

The chaos in the Central Plains ended when China was reunified again under the Han dynasty in 202 BC. Nan Yue was defeated and absorbed again into China under the Han dynasty in 111 BC.

Nearly a thousand years ago in 1097, Su Dongpo 苏东坡, the great Northern Song dynasty (960 - 1127) writer, poet and calligrapher was banished from the palace to languish and stew in the tropical heat of Hainan. At the ebb of his career, 62 year old Su Dongpo was at his lowest depth - he had disagreed with the prime minister and was fortunate to be spared death.

The Hainan locals offered the downtrodden court official a bowl of qing pu liang. Su Dongpo felt instantly refreshed and his spirit lifted. It inspired him to write an ode to the cooling concoction.

“椰树之上采琼浆, 捧来一碗白玉香.”

"Gather nectar from coconut trees,

bring a bowl of white jade incense."

So, next time we enjoy a cooling bowl of qing pu liang, see in it a reflection of Emperor Zhao Tuo and the lost kingdom of Nan Yue from 2000 years ago.