Chinese Cuisine

Modern China enjoys a worldwide reputation as the "Kingdom of Chinese Cuisine." It has one of the world's finest culinary traditions. The combined cuisines of China have often been compared to French cuisine as having made the greatest contribution to the world of food.

The vastness of China's geography and long history has given birth to its distinctive culinary art. The immeasurable variety of natural ingredients, methods of preparation and cooking practices utilized in Chinese cuisine is unique. Food comes first for Chinese people.

Because of its vast territory and many ethnic groups, China is endowed with a fantastically large, mouthwatering variety of food. All local dishes have their own identifying features. The most famous are the eight cuisines, namely, Sichuan, Fujian, Zhejiang, Shandong, Guangdong (Cantonese), Jiangsu, Anhui and Hunan. The food from Beijing, Shanghai and Northeast China is also famous and distinctive.

Lamb and goat are much loved by the Muslims and Mongolians of the north, and their favorite dishes include lamb hotpots and barbecues. In northwestern Xinjiang province, home to the Muslim Uygurs, lamb and goat dishes, eaten with flatbread, reign supreme and conventional Chinese food all but disappears.