• The Mandarin term “清汤” is a paraphrase of the Hokkien or Teochew term cheng tng.
• Cheng tng is a dessert that has cooling properties and is sold in most hawker centres in Singapore.
• The ingredients used to prepare cheng tng are not fixed. The main ingredients include dried longan, barley, gingko nuts, snow fungus, red dates, agar agar strips, malva nut, lotus seeds, dried wintermelon strips, and persimmon slices.
• Malva nut (sterculia lychnophora) is a Chinese herb with cooling and anti-inflammatory properties and is usually added to the preparation of traditional cheng tng.
• The term “清汤” is used in Mainland China to refer to a soup with no added vegetables or ingredients, rather than a dessert.

An elderly couple in their seventies has been running a dessert stall for over 50 years and insisted on maintaining the prices of items, selling red bean soup, green bean soup, cheng tng, and black glutinous rice for just one dollar each. They did not plan on retirement for the sake of their customers.