The transparent noodles in mala Tang are usually fine powder strips. Vermicelli is one of the common foods in China. It is a kind of filamentous food made of mung bean and sweet potato starch, so it is named vermicelli. The best vermicelli is made of mung bean, corn starch or sweet potato starch, but the quality is not as good as mung bean vermicelli, because mung bean has the most amylose, which is not easy to rot when cooked and tastes the most greasy. Similar to spaghetti, dried and sold. Before eating, it is best to soak it in water to make it soft. The diameter of vermicelli is generally about 0.5 mm, which is why it is called "silk".

Mala Tang originated in Niuhua Town, Leshan City, Sichuan Province by the Minjiang River. Initially, boatmen and trackers created a simple and unique way to eat mala Tang. In the Chuanjiang River valley from Chengdu to the Three Gorges, due to the rapid flow of water, the traveler has become an indispensable landscape. While pulling fibers, they set up stones, set up tanks, picked up some branches to make dry wood for a fire, and scooped up buckets of river water. Everything is based on local materials. If there is food, they will pull out some wild vegetables to make up the number, then add seasonings such as sea pepper and pepper, and rinse them and eat them. This way of eating quickly spread along the river because of its simplicity. Later, when the hawkers on the dock saw the business opportunities, they transformed the dishes and stoves and put them at both ends of the load, shouting as they walked. People who sell labor by the river and on the bridge have become frequent visitors around the goods. Nowadays, mala Tang has gradually moved from the river to the shore.