With modern medical science, it is now rarely used to treat coughing; pear-syrup candy has become a souvenir and a snack, and is a part of Jiangnan culture.

After that, Wei shared this prescription to the public, and not only the upper classes but ordinary people produced it, so the method of making the candy became widespread.

After the Jingkang incident in 1127, many of the craftspeople involved in its production moved to the Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279), in the south of China.

[citation needed] These shops were the three most important in fierce competition which stimulated the rapid development of the ligaotang industry, helping it reach the peak of its manufacture.

The food-oriented type consists of Chinese herbs and natural ingredients, with dozens of flavors such as mint, Chinese cymbidium, shrimp, walnut, kumquat, dried meat floss, almond, ginkgo, ham, peanut, pine nut, rose, sweet-scented osmanthus, sweet bean paste, etc.

The medicine-oriented pear-syrup candy gains the production validation approved by the Ministry of Health of the People's Republic of China (MOH).

[5] Traditional pear-syrup candy is made from loquat or fresh pear, along with almond, jiegeng (桔梗, Platycodon grandiflorus, Chinese bellflower), tuckahoe, banxia (半夏, Pinellia ternata), donghua (冬花, flos farfarae/coltsfoot/Tussilago farfara), qianhu (前胡, common hogfennel root; Peucedanum praeruptorum), juhong (橘红, red tangerine peel), beimu (贝母, Fritillaria thunbergii), other medicines, and sugar.

In some recipes, it also contains pangdahai (Scaphium scaphigerum) and honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica), functioning to clear and nourish the throat, relieve coughing and reduce sputum.

[7] In the past, pear-syrup candy production could be a kind of performance, with two main types: Wenmai, which was artistic, and Wumai, which was similar to martial arts.

Among these vendors, Chen Changsheng (stage name: Xiao Deli) was the most famous, considered representative of ligaotang sellers in Suzhou.

[8] In 1958, Wu Jingshou (Stage name: Xiao Mingli), current Vice Director of Changzhou Folk Arts Sodality, and Bao Yunfei (stage name: Xiao Delin), established a Rap and Candy-selling Cooperation of Street Artists in the East Avenue in Changzhou, which helped spread the "Xiaorehun" culture in Suzhou.

Some folklore experts consider that "Xiaorehun" has greatly contributed to the forming and development of Shanghai Dujiaoxi ("funny drama").

[9] Furthermore, the fact that "Xiaorehun" artists were brave enough to express their ideas on politics openly can be regarded as an awakening of public awareness of fighting for the right of speech.