汤 (tāng), not to be confused with 唐 (táng) is ‘soup’ or ‘stock’ or ‘broth’ or just ‘boiling water’. (唐 (táng) is sugar, sweets, candy).
Soups are a frequent part of meals, but unlike in western countries aren’t necessarily served at the beginning of a meal in China. As in the west, however, the best soups depend on the quality of the stock used to prepare them and top Chinese chefs go to extreme lengths to achieve perfection.
On the other hand, the lazy or incompetent or uninterested or all three take shortcuts and there are companies ready to take advantage. Factory made soup bases 汤底 (tāng dǐ) are sold in most supermarkets.
Here is a selection.
Hong Kong Style Golden Chicken Flavour Soup
Nanyang Seafood Shacha Flavor Soup
Cantonese Pepper Pork Belly Chicken Flavour Soup
Yunnan Precious Agaricus Blazei Flavour Soup
Thai Style Seafood Tom Yum Goong Flavour Soup
I have never eaten any of these so can't vouch for any of them, but I can say I avoid anything described as 'flavour' XXXX. It's usually a guarantee that it contains zero XXXX. Unusually, the ingredients are not listed. Instead they list all the things it doesn't contain to make a decent soup and suggest you buy them, too!
Here is a computer translation of the instructions on the foil bag containing the 'soup'.
