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General Characteristics
China is the fourth largest country (after Russia, Canada, and USA) and occupies most of the habitable
mainland of East Asia. It is located in Eastern Asia and is the world’s best-watered land. Its climate is extremely
diverse: tropical in the south to subarctic in the north. Three (3) river systems—Yangtze River, Yellow River,
and Xi River—provide water for the vast farmlands of China. (Claudio, Joves, & Ruiz, 2015)

Culinary Influences (Macveigh, 2009)

Early Chinese Culture. China is home to one of the oldest settled civilizations in the world, one that made
significant advances in the areas of agriculture, food preservation, and early cooking that rival those of the
Middle East and the Americas. The Chinese have cultivated many crops like rice, millet, and sorghum for many
millennia, and they established the sophisticated techniques of salting and fermenting many vegetables,
seafoods, and grains to preserve them.
Influence from India. During the early periods of trading via the Silk Road that enabled trading between East
and West, many food products, preparation methods, and religious influences flowed into China from India.
Buddhism, as a Chinese religion, can be traced to this period and provided one of the most significant
influences on Chinese cuisine: the belief in the sanctity of all living animals, hence vegetarianism. Although
Buddhism is no longer followed by rulers of a Chinese dynasty, the traditions remain, particularly in western
China. Some ingredients and methods that India is thought to have introduced to the Chinese are sugarcane,
coriander, and the tradition of blending dry spices, which probably gave way to the creation of the Chinese
five-spice powder.
Persian Influences. Another early influence on Chinese cuisine came from the culture that took root in what
is now known as the Middle East: the Persian Empire. The beginning of what became known as the Silk Road
is attributed to a Chinese general named Zhang Qian, who marked this route, and eventually brought several
products and methods to the northern Chinese from India, the Middle East, and beyond. From the Middle East
came eggplant, spinach, figs, sugar beets, pomegranates, garlic, walnuts, sesame seeds, and oil. General Qian
also introduced the mill, which was used to grind the northern grains and eventually led to making noodles
and other reparations using flour.
Mongols. Invading tribes from Mongolia ruled part of present-day northern China in the thirteenth century
AD and introduced more of a focus on meat, particularly lamb and mutton. This influence is still seen, mostly
in the northern inland parts of China. The techniques that were introduced by the Mongols include grilling
over open flames on skewers and producing fermented milk products.
European colonists and traders. During the Age of Exploration (15th to 17th century; a time where many
European powers traveled the world to set up new trade routes, ports, and colonies) and colonization saw
several European powers set up trade ports in China and resulted in the flow of more ingredients and
techniques from Europe. The most important of these came from America.
The Portuguese arrived and set up a port in the southern city of Macao in 1514, and they soon introduced the
ingredients of the Americas to China. Chilies were introduced at this point, originally on the coast of Macao.
Most likely as a result of the region’s culinary styles and habits, chilies never caught on in the southern region
of China, but they did in Sichuan. Sichuan cuisine already had a tradition of using pungent ingredients like
ginger and the numbing Sichuan pepper, so the inclusion of chilies was a natural one. Several other ingredients
from the Americas that were introduced by the Portuguese or other European traders also became very
important in various regions of China, including sweet potatoes, potatoes, corn, and tomatoes.
Outward influence. Chinese cuisine has had these profound effects on other cultures:
• Irrigation and cultivation of rice
• Noodle making

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• Soy products – soy sauce, bean curd, tofu, and fermented bean paste
• Preservation techniques like fermenting grains, pickling, refrigeration using large blocks of ice or by
digging holes in the ground, and drying fish

Cooking Methods and Common Ingredients (Heyman, 2017)

One unique cooking method used in Chinese cooking is stir-frying. Chao, or stir-frying, has two (2) distinctive
characteristics: high cooking temperature and constant stirring. Ingredients are rapidly tossed and turned in a
small quantity of oil over very high heat.
Another cooking method widely used in Chinese cooking is called hongshao or red cooking. This is a slow-
cooking technique where meats are cooked in low, steady heat for a long time. Meats are cooked in a liquid
of soy sauce, cooking wine, sugar, and aromatics. The result is a meat dish in as brown-colored sauce. This
technique is called red cooking because the Chinese language lacks the word for the color brown.
Other cooking techniques used in Chinese cuisine are as follows:
• Deep frying • Steaming
• Poaching • Roasting
• Parboiling
The following items are widely used in Chinese cooking:
• Meat and poultry: pork, chicken, beef, duck, and game meats
• Seafood: both fresh and dried finfish and shellfish
• Aromatics: ginger, garlic, scallions, shallots
• Fresh herbs: cilantro, Chinese celery, garlic chives, Chinese leeks, dill, Thai basil, mint
• Spices: star anise, Sichuan peppercorns, cassia bark or Chinese cinnamon, cloves, fennel, five-spice
powder (star anise, Sichuan peppercorns, cassia bark, cloves, and fennel seeds), licorice, cardamom,
cumin, bay leaf, goji berries, jujube, dried chilis, tangerine peel
• Starches: arrowroot, cornstarch, potato starch, tapioca starch, wheat starch
• Sauces: soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, oyster sauce
• Pastes and condiments: fermented bean paste, Sichuan chili bean paste, dry fermented beans,
fermented tofu, hoisin sauce, sweet bean paste, sesame paste, duck sauce, shrimp paste, Osmanthus
blossom syrup, sweet-and-sour sauce, xo sauce
• Cooking wines: Shaoxing, Laojiu, white rice wine, san cheng chew
• Vinegar: white rice vinegar, red rice vinegar, chinkiang black vinegar
• Cooking fats: lard, vegetable oils
• Flavored oils: toasted sesame oil, chili oil
• Pickled ingredients: pickled mustard greens, pickled sour plum
• Salted and cured ingredients: ham, Chinese bacon, cured duck, salted pork, salted eggs, century eggs,
fermented dried mustard greens, cured radish, Tianjin preserved vegetable
• Dried specialties: dried shitake mushroom, dried wood ear, dried daylily buds, dried fish maw, dried
cucumber, dried abalone, dried shark fin

Unique Components
Chinese philosophy and food: Food is more closely associated with health in China than in any other parts of
the world. Traditional Chinese medicine is often food, and included in the education of an individual growing
up in China are the principles of yin and yang, and the proper balance of these fundamental components of
life in the daily diet. (Macveigh, 2009)

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The following food products are classified into yin, yang, or neutral (Macveigh, 2009):
• Yin food products: Almond, apple, asparagus, bamboo, banana, barley, bean curd, bean sprout, beer,
broccoli, cabbage, celery, clam, corn, crab, cucumber, duck, eel, fish, grape, honey, ice cream, lemon,
mussel, orange, oyster, peppermint tea, pineapple, salt, shrimp, spinach, strawberry, soybean, white
sugar, tofu, tomato, water, watercress
• Yang food products: Beef, black pepper, brown sugar, butter, cheese, chicken liver and fat, chilis,
chocolate, coffee, egg, smoked fish, garlic, glutinous rice, ginger, green pepper, goose, ham, kidney
bean, leek, onion, peanut butter, roasted peanut, potato, rabbit, turkey, walnut, whiskey and wine
• Neutral food products: Bread, carrot, cauliflower, cherry, lean chicken meat, date, milk, peach, pea,
pigeon, plum, raisin, brown rice and steamed rice
Efficiency: Chinese cooking utilizes every part of a food source. The Chinese are also well known for their
willingness to eat a wide variety of food products. Many plants and animals are considered delicacies in China.
Snakes, turtles, small birds, insects, larvae, various fungi and mushrooms, nests of certain birds, shark fins, and
similar edibles are often prized in the country. The high utilization of available products and the methods of
cooking those products allow the Chinese to employ efficient cookery. (Macveigh, 2009)
Fan, the focal point of the meal: One aspect of Chinese cuisine that is hard for those raised in a European-
based culture to grasp is the focus that is placed on side dishes. In most European cultures, the focus of the
meal is the meat, which would be considered the main entrée. In China, however, the focal point is the starch
(the generic term is fan). The accompaniments to starch, or fan, might include meat, sauces, and vegetables,
but the rice is the main component. (Macveigh, 2009)
Knife Techniques. In Chinese cooking, knife techniques rank high in importance. Below are some examples of
Chinese cutting techniques (Kho, 2015):
• Bias cut (pian) – These are vegetables that are sliced at an angle. The thickness depends on the recipe.
• Julienne (si, tiao, duan) – Cuts like julienne are called si, and cuts as thick as batons are called tiao. If
the ingredient being cut is naturally long, like scallions and string beans, then the shape is called duan.
• Dice (ding, mi) – Large cubes up to ¾-inch thick are known as ding, while cubes as tiny as ⅛ inch across
are called mi, which means rice.
• Roll cut (kuai) – Vegetables cut at different angles resulting in irregularly shaped pieces are called kuai.
• Mince (mo, sui) – Chopping vegetables and meat into very fine pieces is called mo, while flat leafy
greens like cilantro that are chopped finely are called sui.

Unique Cookware
These are a few tools that can be seen in Chinese kitchens:
• Cleavers – Three (3) types of cleaver are used in the Chinese kitchen: (1) slicing cleaver is the lightest
of all cleavers and is used in basic ingredient preparation, (2) cutting cleaver is heavier and sturdier
than the slicing cleaver, which makes a better tool for mincing meat, and (3) chopping cleaver weighs
more than half a pound and is excellent for chopping meat with or without the bones intact.
• Wok – The traditional wok is round-bottomed and is made from cast-iron or carbon steel. This is great
for stir-frying in very high heat.
• Steaming rack – This is usually made from bamboo, but aluminum ones are available as well. This is a
very useful accessory for the wok, which turns it into a wide steamer.
• Spatulas – Spatulas designed for woks are shaped like a shovel, with a wide blade and slightly curved
bottom.
• Ladles – These are often shallower than the western ladles, so these can also be used for stir-frying.

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• Skimmers or “spiders” – These are made with a metal wire mesh tied to a metal ring and a long bamboo
handle and are made to drain food after boiling or frying.
• Clay pots – These are usually used in cooking dishes that require braising at an even and gentle heat
for a long time.

Significant Subregions (Macveigh, 2009)

Northeastern Region: Hopei, Shantung, Shansi, Honon, Jilan, and Liaoning provinces
The northeastern region of China is a cold and mostly arid region that has traditionally been a producer and
consumer of wheat, millet, and sorghum. Although rice is common, significant amounts of wheat-based dishes
remain the main source of starch.
Beijing has been the capital of China since the 1300s, hence its long culinary history as the home of imperial
cuisine. Generally, this cuisine was dramatically different from what the local people would enjoy. It was often
very elaborate and included many foods found in other parts of China brought in, especially for those in the
ruling dynasty. As a result, the cuisine of this region is a mix of peasant foods, imperial cuisine, and regional
cuisine found in the capital.
Some dishes found in this region are the following:
• Guo bao rou – a sweet and sour stir-fried pork dish
• Peking duck – a roasted duck dish named after the former name of Beijing
• Jin jiang rousi – a dish made with sliced pork cooked in a sweet bean sauce then served with
soybean wraps.
Eastern Central Region: Kiangsu, Anhui, Chekiang, and Fukien provinces
This region includes the major city of Shanghai. This region is mostly flat and has many bodies of water like
marshes, rivers, and ponds. The Yellow Sea and the Yangtze River are found in this region. The reliance of food
products yielded from water has resulted in the nickname “the land of fish and rice,” and these two (2) food
items often form the backbone of the local cuisine.
Some dishes found in this region are as follows:
• Xiao long bao – also known as soup dumpling; made from pork and vegetable filling with warm
broth
• Stinky tofu – a dish made from fermented tofu and doused with chili sauce and soybean paste
• Hong shao rou – a dish made with pork belly braised in a clay pot with soy sauce, sugar, and
Shaoxing wine.
Southern Region: Guangdong and Guangxi provinces
The southern region of China, where cities of Canton and Hong Kong can be found, is semitropical and very
fertile, resulting in a distinctly different cuisine from that of the more northern areas. Because of its tropical
climate, many ingredients can be grown here.
This region has had the most interactions with the Europeans. As such, many of the products of the New World
(mostly by the Portuguese) were introduced to Chinese cuisine. The inclusion of chilis, tomatoes, corn,
peanuts, potatoes, and sweet potatoes in the Chinese diet all began here.
Some dishes found in this region are as follows:
• Char siu – a roasted pork dish
• Congee – a rice porridge that can be topped with almost anything like pickled vegetables, meat, or
century egg
• Lamian – a dish made with hand-pulled noodles and cooked in beef broth.

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Western Inland Region: Hunan, Kweichow, Sichuan, and Yunnan provinces

The cuisine of the western region is dominated by that of the valley of Sichuan, the land of spices. The cuisine
is well known for its liberal use of spices. Combined cooking methods are also often used here. It is very
common to see vegetables deep-fried first and then stir-fried with sauce, or meats deep-fried first before
braising. These methods provide richness to the final recipe and even different textures and intense flavors
that identify the cuisine.
Some dishes found in this region are the following:
• Mapo tofu – a dish made with tofu in a sauce of chilies, beans, and minced meat
• Dandan mian – a noodle dish made with wheat noodles with vegetables, Sichuan peppers, and
minced pork all drenched in chili oil
• Fuqi feipian – a dish made with sliced beef tripe in chili oil and peanuts.

References:
Claudio, V.S., Joves, L.S., & Ruiz, A.J. (2015). Cultural foods around the world: featuring international recipes.
Mandaluyong City, PH: National Bookstore.
Heyman, P.A. (2017). International cooking: A culinary journey. London, UK: Pearson Education.
Kho, K.L. (2015) Phoenix claws and jade trees: Essential techniques of Chinese cooking. New York, USA: Clarkson
Potter Publishers.
MacVeigh, J. (2009). International cuisine. Boston, MA: Cengage.

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