Chinese Cuisines
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Chinese cuisine is a brilliant facet of Chinese
culture, which is proven by the fact that Chinese
restaurants are found scattered everywhere
around the world.
Today, the culinary industry is developing even
more rapidly than before. A decade ago, Beijing
had a few thousand restaurants, while today
there are over 100,000 restaurants of different
sizes in the city.
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民以食为天
People regard food as their heaven.
For the common folks food is heaven.
Food the first necessity of man.
People regard food as their prime want.
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开门七件事，柴米油盐酱醋茶。
7 daily necessities, woods (coals), rice, oil, salt,
sauce, vineger and tea.
Local Chinese Cuisines
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It is widely acknowledged that from the Ming
(1368-1644) and Qing (1616-1911) dynasties
onwards, there arose eight schools of cuisine,
respectively from Shandong, Sichuan,
Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hunan,
and Anhui provinces.
In addition to these traditional cuisines, the
culinary industry in China has undergone great
changes, as almost every place has its own local
specialties, just as different cuisines have
gathered in one place.
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In big cities like Beijing, Shanghai and
Guangzhou, one can tastes all the familiar and
famed dishes from around the country.
Shandong Cuisine
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Consisting of Jinan Cuisine and Jiaodong cuisine,
Shandong cuisine, clear, pure and not greasy, is
characterized by its emphasis on aroma, freshness,
crispness, and tenderness. Shallot and garlic are
usually used as seasonings so Shandong dishes
taste pungent usually. Jinan cuisine is adept at
deep-frying, grilling, frying and stir-frying while
Jiadong division is famous for cooking seafood
with fresh and light taste.
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Shallot
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Dezhou Style
Braised chicken
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It is made by a whole
chicken cooked with
crude herb. When
served it is a chicken in
the plate, gold and red in
color. If you shake it
with its leg, all bones and
flesh will separate
automatically. Braised
chicken has a brilliant
taste, tender salty and a
little sweet, very different
from Beijing Roast Duck.
Sauted Sea Cucumber with Shallot
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Shandong Province is half-plane circled by sea,
so sea food is a major component of Shandong
cuisine.
Sea cucumber is high in nutritional value. It is
cooked with shallow because it can remove the
fishy smell of sea cucumbers.
It tastes fresh and light and sea cucumber tastes
a little fishy.
Sichuan Cuisine
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Sichuan, known as Nature’s Storehouse, is
also a storehouse of cuisine. Here, each and
every restaurant provides delicious yet economic
culinary fare.
The ingredients for Sichuan cuisine are simple
but the spices used are quite different.
Sichuan cuisine is famous for its spicy and hot
food, yet just being hot and spicy does not
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necessarily distinguish it from other hot and
spicy cuisines, such as Hunan and Guizhou
Cuisine. What is really special about Sichuan
cuisine is the use of Chinese prickly ash
seeds, the taste of which leaves a feeling of
numbness on one’s tongue and mouth.
Chinese prickly ash
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Besides this unique spice, Sichuan dishes are also
usually prepared with other spices like chili
pepper. Using fermented bean sauce and a set
of unique cooking methods.
The Gongbao
(Kung Pao)
chicken
 宫保鸡丁
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Ma-po tofu
 麻婆豆腐
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Tan Family Fish
Head
 谭家鱼头
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Guangdong Cuisine
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Guangdong Province is located in Southern
China, with a moderate climate and abundant
produce all year round. As one of the earliest
ports open to foreign trade, the province has
developed a culinary culture with its own
characteristics that has exerted a far-reaching
influence on other parts of China.
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Guangdong cuisine is famous for its seafood as
well as for its originality and refined cooking
processes. Various soups in this cuisine have
become loved by people all over the country.
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Areca Catechu spare rib
槟榔排骨
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Crispy chichen
东江盐鸡
Abalone
 鲍鱼
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Barbecue Pork
Fujian Cuisine
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The most characteristic aspect of Fujian
cuisine is that its dishes are served in soup.
Its cooking methods are stewing, boiling,
braising, quick-boiling, and steaming, The
most famous dish is Buddha Jumps Over
the Wall.
Jiangsu Cuisine
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Jiangsu cuisine, also known as Su Cai for short,
is one of the major components of Chinese
cuisine, and consists of the styles of Yangzhou,
Nanjing, Suzhou and Zhenjiang dishes. It is very
famous in the whole world for its distinctive
style and taste. It is especially popular in the
lower reach of the Yangtze River.
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Jiangsu cuisine has the characteristics of strictly
selected ingredients, exquisite workmanship,
elegant shape, and rich culture trait. The typical
raw materials are fresh and live aquatic products.
It highlights the freshness of ingredients. Other
cooking ingredients are often carefully selected
tea leaves, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, pears,
and dates.
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Due to using the methods of stewing, braising,
quick-frying, warming-up, stir-frying, wine sauce
pickling and adding some sugar as condiments,
Jiangsu dishes taste fresh, light and mellow.
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Typical courses of Jiangsu cuisine are Jinling
salted dried duck (Nanjing's most famous dish),
crystal meat, clear crab shell meatballs,
Yangzhou steamed Jerky strips (dried tofu,
chicken, ham and pea leaves).
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Jinling salted dried
duck
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Crystal meat
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Minced pork and
crab meat balls
with bamboo
shoots in a clear
soup.
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Yangzhou steamed
Jerky strips
Zhejiang Cuisine
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Zhejiang Cuisine is light and exquisite, as
representative of food from along the lower
Yangtze River. One famous dish is West Lake
Vinegar Fish, which looks delicate and tastes
tender, with the refreshing flavors of nature.
Many Chinese restaurants in China, as well as in
other parts of the world, serve this dish, but
usually with less authentic flavor compared to
that found in Hangzhou.
West Lake Vinegar
Fish
 西湖醋鱼
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Fried Shrimp 炒虾仁
Pork with pickled
vegetable
 梅菜扣肉
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Hunan Cuisine
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Hunan Cuisine consists of local cuisines of
Xiangjiang Region, Dongting Lake and Xiangxi
Mountain Region. It is characterized by thick
and pungent flavor. Chili, pepper and shallot are
ususally necessaries in this division.
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Dong’an Chick
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Peppery and Hot
Chick
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Braised pork with
brown sauce
Anhui Cuisine
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Anhui Cuisine chefs focus much more attention
on the temperature in cooking and are good at
braising and stewing. Often hams will be added
to improve taste and sugar candy added to gain
freshness.
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Braised Turtle
with Ham
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Fuliji Grilled
Chicken
Every Dish Has A Story
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The names of Chinese dishes are diverse, but
behind each of the famous dishes is an
interesting story explaining why it is popular. A
catchy name may add value to the dish.
However, some names are so eccentric that they
may confuse people, both Chinese and
foreigners. If you explain the names in a literal
way, you may make a fool of yourself.
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Take 狗不理 Goubuli ( Dog pays no attention)
buns in the city of Tianjin for example. These
popular buns are all handmade and of the same
size. When served in near neat rows in the tray,
they look like budding chrysanthemum flowers.
The wrapping is thin, the fillings are juicy, and
the taste is tender and delicious yet not at all
greasy. Then why the name.
Goubuli 狗不理包子
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Goubuli steamed buns were first sold in Tianjin
about 150 years ago. A local young man by the
name Gouzi (Dog) worked as an apprentice in a
shop selling Baozi (steamed buns). Three years
later, he set up his own Baozi shop. Because his
buns were so delicious, he soon had a thriving
business, with more and more people coming
for the buns.
As hardworking as Dog was, he still could not
meet the demands of his customers, who had to
wait a long time. Impatiently, some people
would call out to urge him on, but as he was
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busy preparing the buns, he had no time to
answer. People therefore called his buns
Goubuli, meaning “Dog pays no attention.”
This eccentric name, however, had very good
promotional effects, and has been used ever
since. Now Goubuli is a time-cherished brand
name in Tianjin.
Dongpo Meat 东坡肉
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In Zhejiang cuisine, there is a well-accepted dish
called Dongpo Meat. This dish is prepared over
a slow fire, with streaky pork in big chunks and
garnishes of green onion, ginger at the bottom
of the pot, cooking wine, soy sauce, and sugar.
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The fished dish is bright red in color and tender
and juice in taste, yet without any feel of
greasiness. This dish was named after Su
Dongpo (1037-1101) a great poet of Northern
Song Dynasty (960-1127), who created it when
he was an official in Hangzhou.
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It is said that, when he was in charge of the
drainage work for the West Lake, Su Dongpo
rewarded workers with stewed pork in soy sauce,
and people later named it Dongpo Meat, to
commemorate this gifted and generous poet.
Buddha Jumping the Wall 佛跳墙
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Fujian cuisine boasts a famous dish called
Buddha Jumping the Wall, the No. 1 dish of
the province. This dish is prepared with more
than 20 main ingredients, including chicken,
duck, sea cucumber, dried scallop, tendon, shark
lip, fish maw, ham, and more than a dozen
garnishes like mushrooms, winter bamboo
shoots and pigeon eggs.
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All these ingredients are placed into ceramic pot,
with cooking wine and chicken both added, and
then cooked over a slow fire until the meat is
tender and juicy and the soup become smooth
and thick. A taste of the dish will leave a
lingering aftertaste in the mouth. The story
behind the name of the specialty goes thus:
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This dish was created by a restaurant called
Gathering Spring Garden (聚春圆) in Fuzhou,
Fujian, during the reign of Qing Emperor
Guangxu (r. 1875-108). The dish was first
named Eight Treasures Stewed in a Pot and
later changed to Blessing and Longevity (福寿
全) .
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One day, several scholars came to Gathering
Spring Garden for a drink. When the dish was
served, one of them improvised a poem:
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“Fragrance spread to the neighborhood
once the lid lifts/ One whiff and the
Buddha jumps the wall, abandoning the Zen
precepts,” “坛启荤香飘四邻，佛闻弃禅跳
墙来”, hence the name of the dish.