Chinese people love noodles, especially in the north, where instant noodles and dried noodles are very popular. New research suggests that the Chinese were already consuming this "fast food" as early as the Tang Dynasty. Dr. Gao Qi'an, a specialist in Dunhuang cuisine, said, "Examining Dunhuang documents reveals that dried noodles existed as early as the Tang Dynasty, then called 'xu mian' ."

Previously, scholars believed that the earliest record of dried noodles in China was found in the Yuan Dynasty book 'Yinshan Zhengyao' . However, "xu mian" appears more than once in Dunhuang documents, and is even presented as a gift. For example, one family in Dunhuang used "xu mian" as a betrothal gift in wedding customs. Even today, some places in China still refer to dried noodles as "dragon beard noodles" .

The Qing Dynasty official Xie Yong recorded in his Shiwei Zayong: "The wheat flour of the north is excellent, but the dried noodles sent as tribute are even more exquisite, yet some complain that they are too thin." These excessively thin tribute noodles are what are known as "supreme silver thread noodles" (上用银丝挂面). In the Yangzhou and Yancheng areas today, it is also called silver thread noodles. The dough is kneaded and rolled into noodles about the thickness of a little finger, then coiled and hung on a wooden frame with a short, round wooden stick hanging from it. The thick noodles are gradually stretched and thinned under the pressure of the stick, and then naturally air-dried, becoming dried noodles. This method originated in northern China during the Yuan Dynasty.

Legend has it that in ancient times, soldiers and civilians toiled day and night regardless of the scorching heat or freezing cold. To ensure their loved ones could eat noodles, their families would dry and bundle the rolled and cut noodles on bamboo poles, then send them along with a prepared sour soup to the work site. Their loved ones could cook the noodles and eat them in the sour soup during breaks from work. This way of eating was both filling and thirst-quenching, and was considered a superior form of gratification. Later, someone improved the sun-dried noodles into handmade dried noodles, adding "piaoshao" (a mixture of chopped egg pancakes, tender chives, and cabbage hearts) to the sour soup, creating the sour soup noodles that are now widely enjoyed in folk customs and at banquets.