Chinese people began to go out for night snacks around the Tang and Song dynasties. Before the Tang and Song dynasties, curfews were strict, and ordinary people were not allowed to engage in legal activities at night, so there was no need for night curfew. In the Tang Dynasty, in order to prevent coups, strict curfew policies were still implemented in cities where powerful figures gathered, such as Chang'an and Luoyang. Both the inner and outer gates of Chang'an and the gates of Fangshi will be closed regularly before nightfall, and people can only move within the Fangshi after nightfall. The Left and Right Jinwu Guards will patrol the streets at night, and those who violate the night ban can be beaten, hacked, or even killed with a stick. However, during the mid to late Tang Dynasty, the curfew in local counties, especially in the bustling Jiangnan region, had already been relaxed. In Du Mu's "Mooring the Qinhuai River", it is said that "the smoke cage is cold, the water is cold, the sand is in the cage, and the Qinhuai River is close to the restaurant at night. Businesswomen do not know the hatred of national subjugation, and they still sing backyard flowers across the river", describing the night market scene of Jinling Qinhuai River. Not just Jinling. Wang Jian's poem "Watching Yangzhou City at Night" goes like this: "A thousand lights shine on the blue clouds at the night market, and there are many people with red sleeves in high-rise buildings. Now it is not a normal day, and they are still full of songs and songs." Du Xunhe's poem "Seeing off friends in Wuyue" goes like this: "There is a fire at the side of the night market bridge, and a boat outside the Spring Temple"; Lu Lun's poem "Sending Ji Zhongfu to school and return to the old mountain of Chuzhou" goes like this: "sneak into Changmen, and the thousand lights night market is noisy", which are all descriptions of the night markets in southern prefectures and counties. By the end of the Tang Dynasty, even the curfew in Chang'an City had been relaxed. Chongren Square was "full of noise and lights", so Emperor Wenzong of Tang had to issue an imperial edict during the Kaicheng period (836-840) that "the Beijing night market should be banned". It's just that the imperial power is declining, and it's difficult for the edict to take effect. With a night market, of course, there will inevitably be night snacks. The Song people had the freedom to go out and have late night snacks. From the poetry and prose left by the Tang people, it can be seen that at that time, the night market mainly served officials and wealthy merchants, while ordinary people worked at sunrise and rested at sunset, having two meals a day, which was generally insulated from late night snacks. There is a record in Tang Dynasty's Fang Deyuan's Jinling Story: "The rich Jia folded the night to put money into his pocket, bought wine at night, and called Qin Sheng women to buy a banquet. In the late Tang Dynasty, Xiang Si wrote a poem titled "Mooring in Huaiyin at Night": "At night, one enters the smoke of the Chu family, but remains awake in the smoke. Looking at the Huai River, one sits in front of the tavern. The shadow of the lamp is half facing the water, and the sound of the zheng is mostly in the boat. Traveling eastward is not a place where ordinary people can consume. The sound of the zheng in the poem is not a service that ordinary people can enjoy, only officials and wealthy businessmen can have this intoxicating life. The night snack entered the lives of ordinary people during the Song Dynasty. According to the Dongjing Meng Hua Lu, the most famous place to eat midnight snack in Kaifeng City in the Northern Song Dynasty is the "Zhouqiao Night Market", which is about to the south of Kaifeng Zhouqiao, from Zhuquemen to Longjin Bridge. The Night Market is open every day when the lights are on and closes at midnight (around 23:00 to 1:00 the next day). It mainly engages in various consumption levels of night snacks. Selling rice on the street (usually referring to foods with a lot of soup), grilled pork and dried meat on a low heat; Wang Lou (one of the famous restaurants at that time) sold badger meat, wild fox meat, and dried chicken in front of him. We also sell food made from the Mei and Lu families, including geese, ducks, chickens, rabbits, belly lungs, eels, chicken skin, kidneys, etc., for only fifteen wen per serving. The snacks Dim sum made by the Cao family are also sold here.