Chinese Cuisine

Dunhuang Cuisine

Hong Kong Cuisine

Luoyang Cuisine

Shanghai Cuisine

Taiwan Cuisine

Tibet Cuisine

Xian Cuisine

Yunnan Cuisine

With a time-honored history, Chinese cuisine culture is extensive and profound. According to records, as early as in the Shang and Zhou dynasties over 3,000 years ago, a fairly complete culinary system was formed. Thanks to the constant development and improvement in the past several thousand years, Chinese cuisine has become a complete culture system with unique characteristics, and has given birth to tea culture, wine culture and other cultures. Both meticulously prepared imperial dishes and local snacks reflect the Chinese people's pursuit for delicacies and the country's deep cultural ins and outs of the Chinese nation. China is a world-renowned "Culinary Kingdom." As one of the six important elements of tourism. i.e., transport, sightseeing, accommodation, food, shopping and entertainment, "food" is one of the most important component parts of China's abundant tourism resources. Delicious Chinese food attracts thousands upon thousands of foreign tourists to China. While visiting scenic Chinese tourist attractions. tourists can also taste various kinds of delicious food.

China has a vast territory and a large number of ethnic groups. Thanks to the great differences in the climate, geographical environment, and historical and cultural development of different regions, various styles of cuisine have been formed, each having its own distinct characteristics. The cooking techniques and different styles of cuisine reflect the quintessence of unique Chinese cooking techniques, and represent the level of Chinese culinary.

China has local cuisine, imperial dishes, dishes of ethnic minorities, Islamic dishes with a strong religious flavor and vegetarian dishes. At the beginning China had only four styles of cuisine. i.e., Sichuan, Shandong, Guangdong and Huaiyang cuisine, which later developed into eight major styles of cuisine, then 10 main styles of cuisine, special styles of dishes of ethnic minorities such as Mongolian dishes, Tibetan dishes, Manchu dishes, Zhuang dishes and so on. Each ethnic minority dishes displays its unique ethnic customs. Dishes in the style of the ancients, includes Dishes of the Confucius Mansion. Tan Family Dishes, and Imitated "Dream of Red Mansions" Dishes, in addition to various kinds of local snacks, such as Beijing, Guangzhou, Jinan and Chengdu snacks. These styles of cuisine reflect China's rich and colorful catering culture in an all-round way.

Foods prepared by varied places are quite different in tastes, showing strong regional features. The people of northwest China love sour food; those of southwest China are fond of spicy food; and those from south and east China prefer sweet food. The people of north China mainly eat cooked wheaten food, such as steamed bread, steamed twisted rolls, pancakes and noodles; and the people of south China take rice as staple food.

The Chinese people have always maintained: "One does not object to the finest food." In Chin, cooking is a special skill, as well as an art, with profound contents and varied forms. Chinese cooking techniques feature time-honored history and consummate skills, and attach great importance to the combination of beautiful shapes and delicious tastes. Chinese food is known for bright colors, beautiful forms, tempting smell and various tastes.

With a long history, remarkable characteristics and rich connotations. Chinese cooking techniques are spread far and wide, and Chinese food is loved by the people all over the world. China, France and Turkey enjoy the highest reputation in the world for their culinary cultures, known as the "three major culinary schools." Chinese culinary art has made great contributions to human civilization. Now Chinese restaurants are spread all over the world. Many foreigners have got to know China and Chinese catering culture through tasting Chinese food.

The Chinese people have always attached great importance to their food and beverages. An old Chinese saying goes: "People regard food as their prime want." Along with the improvement of the people's livelihood, the people all over the world are paying more and more attention to catering culture. Tasting delicious Chinese food in different places of China is one of the reasons why foreign tourists come to China. Eating delicious food after (loin" sightseeing will make their trip to China more satisfactory. The saying of "eating in China" is universally accepted.

In China delicious food is often linked with festivals and celebrations. For instance, Jiaozi (dumpling with meat and vegetable stuffing) eaten during the Spring Festival. Zongzi (a pyramid-shaped dumpling made of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves) eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival, and moon cakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival have become indispensable parts in the life of the Chinese people. At the Nadam Grassland Fair of the Mongolian ethnic minority, the Corban Festival of the Huis, the Water Sprinkling Festival of the Dais. and the game of "Maidens Chasing Her Lover" of Uygurs, tourists from all over the country may taste mutton and rice eaten with fingers, fried pastry and other delicious food. To enrich the cultural life of the people and promote the development of Chinese tourism, various kinds of delicacy festivals and celebrations are held every year in different regions of China, such as Guangzhou International Delicacy Festival, Ordos Delicacy Festival of the Inner Mongolia

Autonomous Region. Shandong Qilu Tourism Delicacy Festival, Chengdu Delicacy and Hot Pot Festival, etc. These festivals and celebrations have played and will continue to play an important role in promoting the development of tourism, the improvement and dissemination of cooking techniques, enriching China's tourism resources and products, and propelling the Chinese delicacy culture.

With the main Chinese styles of cuisine as the clues, this book introduces delicacy cultures and rich and colorful delicacy festivals and celebrations of different regions in great detail, and recommends some representative restaurants and hotels. With the help of this book, foreign tourists can taste various kinds of delicacies while visiting tourist attractions in China.