As teahouses flourished in the southern areas of Guangdong (Kwangtung) province during the Tang dynasty (AD 618-906), it became necessary for southern chefs to devise and create more and more dainty nibbles and pastries to accompany the now popular and leisurely pastime of tea-drinking. Seafood was used, as well as pork and chicken, to stuff pastries and dumplings, har gau being the Cantonese masterpiece of this specialized art of dim sum.