7 Kinds of Candy Across Chinese Ages

Did Ancient Chinese Enjoy Sweeter Lives Than Us? From sticky malt treats to lion-shaped sugar sculptures, ancient China turned sweetness into art long before chocolate arrived. This journey through dynasties reveals how malt sugar fueled warriors, how Zhang Qian (张骞) brought back stone honey as a luxury, and how a Tang poet claimed one spoon of syrup inspired a hundred poems. No chocolate bars or lollipops—just centuries of ingenuity that turned grains, fruits, and milk into edible poetry. Read on to discover the hidden treasures of ancient Chinese candy.

1. Malt Honey Blocks

The oldest Chinese candy appeared in the Zhou Dynasty (周朝), recorded in Book of Songs (诗经). People sprouted barley grains, mixed them with sticky rice, and fermented the mash. After slow boiling, they got a thick golden syrup. They poured it into molds to harden into blocks called Malt Honey Blocks. This wasn’t just a snack—it was portable energy for soldiers on long marches.

Nobles served these amber blocks at banquets, often dipping them into warm wine to soften the chew. Imagine the King of Zhou taking his first bite. The sweetness probably felt more thrilling than a first crush. Unlike modern candy wrappers, Zhou people wrapped their Malt Honey Blocks in bamboo leaves, preserving the sticky treasure for weeks.

Farmers also discovered that boiling sprouted grains produced a thick liquid called yi (饴). They used it as a natural sweetener for porridge and medicine. This humble beginning laid the foundation for centuries of candy innovation. The method spread across villages, making sweetness available to commoners, not just kings.

2. Stone Honey

When Zhang Qian returned from Central Asia around 120 BCE, he brought back a game-changing technique. People learned to boil sugarcane juice until it crystallized into hard, translucent blocks. Because these blocks felt as tough as stone, they earned the name stone honey. In the Han Dynasty (汉朝), owning a piece of stone honey was like owning a gold bar today.

Emperor Wu of Han (汉武帝) rewarded his top generals with stone honey after victories. A contemporary Ode to Sugar (糖颂) described it as “flowing like ancient sweetener yet hard as ice.” You couldn’t bite into it directly—people had to lick it slowly or smash it with a bronze hammer. The sweetness lasted as long as a camel bell’s echo on the Silk Road.

stone honey also became a diplomatic gift. Envoys carried these amber rocks to Korea and Vietnam, impressing foreign courts with China’s sugary skills. Unlike today’s mass-produced candies, each stone honey block had unique air bubbles and swirls, making every piece a natural work of art.

3. Zhi Yi (蔗饴)

The Tang Dynasty (唐朝) turned sugar into an intellectual pursuit. Refined sugarcane syrup, called Zhi Yi, replaced malt as the sweetener of choice for scholars. Du Fu (杜甫), the great poet, loved dissolving Zhi Yi into his tea. He wrote, “Tea drink with cane syrup—I bring whatever I have.” For him, sweetness fueled creativity.

Bai Juyi (白居易) took it further. He famously claimed, “One spoon of syrup inspires a hundred poems.” The West Market of Chang’an had stalls selling sugar paintings. Melted Zhi Yi was dripped onto cold stone slabs to form dragons and phoenixes. Customers could watch the artist create a 3D candy sculpture in minutes—ancient street food entertainment.

Tang chefs also mixed Zhi Yi with nuts and ginger to make chewy lozenges. These were carried in silk pouches as breath fresheners. Even Buddhist monks used sugar paste to coat medicinal pills, making bitter herbs easier to swallow. The dynasty’s openness to foreign ideas turned sugar from a rarity into a daily delight.

4. Lion Candy

The Song Dynasty (宋朝) raised candy-making to sculpture. Dreams of Splendor of the Eastern Capital (东京梦华录) describes lion candy. Imperial chefs pressed hot amber sugar into bronze molds carved with roaring lions. They used black sesame seeds for eyes and etched mane lines with bamboo needles. The result was a lifelike lion you could eat.

Night markets in Hangzhou (杭州) sold even fancier fruit candies. Artisans embedded preserved plums, jujubes, and flower petals into transparent sugar blocks. Held up to sunlight, these candies glowed like stained glass. A Song poet once wrote, “Biting into a sugar fruit is like swallowing a rainbow.”

Children loved animal-shaped candies. Molds existed for rabbits, fish, and even tiny pagodas. Street vendors would personalize candy for buyers, carving names or short blessings onto the surface. This was not mass production—each piece required steady hands and artistic eyes. No wonder Song candies often appeared in paintings, like the famous Little Court Children at Play (小庭婴戏图).

5. Milk Candy

Milk powder technology matured in the Ming Dynasty (明朝), giving birth to China’s first dairy toffee. Called milk candy, it was made by repeatedly stretching a mixture of cow or goat milk and malt syrup until it turned white and elastic. Then workers rolled it into long strips and coated them with roasted sesame seeds and crushed peanuts.

Admiral Zheng He (郑和) took milk candy on his ocean voyages to Southeast Asia. The candy resisted melting in tropical heat, thanks to its low moisture content. Local records from Java described it as “dancing sweet clouds” because the chewy texture seemed to bounce in your mouth. Zheng He even gifted boxes of milk candy to local sultans.

Back in China, Ming housewives made simpler versions at home. They boiled milk with sugar until thick, then pulled it by hand over hooks. The process took hours but produced a candy that stayed soft for months. Some added rosewater or osmanthus flowers for fragrance. This was the ancestor of modern White Rabbit, though far more labor-intensive.

6. Candied Hawthorn

Every Chinese person knows candied hawthorn, but few realize it was Empress Dowager Cixi ‘s (慈禧太后) favorite winter snack. In the Qing Dynasty (清朝), imperial chefs selected only the plumpest hawthorn berries, each the size of a quail egg. They dipped them in a paper-thin shell of molten rock sugar, then sprinkled rose petals or pine nuts on top before the shell hardened.

Cixi ate candied hawthorn in her heated winter chamber. She would bite through the crackling sugar shell, and the sour hawthorn juice would burst out. A court record noted that she once said, “The sour wakes up my stomach; the sweet pleases my heart.” The combination of sweet and sour became a national candy philosophy—never eat plain sugar without something to balance it.

Street vendors in Beijing adapted the recipe. They used crabapples, yams, and even whole strawberries when available. The skewers were stuck into straw bundles and carried through hutongs. Children would follow the vendor, hoping for a broken piece to fall. The 2011 TV drama Scarlet Heart (步步惊心) showed princes eating candied hawthorn, reviving interest in this Qing classic.

7. White Rabbit

The Republic of China era saw Shanghai become Asia’s candy capital. In the 1940s, the ABC Candy Factory launched a chewy milk toffee wrapped in blue-and-white paper. The original mascot was Mickey Mouse, but after 1949, it changed to a cartoon rabbit. Thus, White Rabbit was born.

Why did it become a national icon? The candy had intense milk flavor from real dairy powder, and the wrapper used edible rice paper—a genius trick from Chinese candy makers. You could eat the whole thing, paper included. During material shortages, one White Rabbit candy was considered a nutritious treat equivalent to a glass of milk. Workers received them as bonuses; children traded them like treasure.

Today, White Rabbit still sells millions of pieces yearly. But its ancient ancestors—from Zhou’s sticky Yi to Qing’s imperial hawthorn—tell a richer story. The next time you unwrap a sweet, think of Li Bai (李白). If that Tang poet time-traveled and tasted your chocolate, would he write an even more romantic verse? Probably. Because the Chinese love affair with candy never stopped—it just got sweeter with every dynasty.