Chinese cuisine

Chinese cuisine refers to the many cooking traditions that come from China, shaped by the country’s vast population and geographical variety, as well as by Chinese communities abroad. Because of the Chinese diaspora and China’s historical influence, its food has deeply shaped other cuisines across Asia and beyond, often adapted to local tastes. Staples like rice, soy sauce, noodles, tea, chili oil, and tofu, along with tools like chopsticks and the wok, are now common worldwide.

The earliest recognizable restaurants in the modern sense appeared in China during the Song dynasty in the 11th and 12th centuries. Street food became a key part of Chinese food culture in the 7th century under the Tang dynasty, and the street food traditions of much of Southeast Asia were established by Chinese laborers brought there in the late 19th century.

Seasoning and cooking methods vary across Chinese provinces due to differences in social class, religion, history, and ethnic groups. Geographic features like mountains, rivers, forests, and deserts also affect local ingredients, as China’s climate ranges from tropical in the south to subarctic in the northeast. Imperial tastes and noble preferences have influenced Chinese cuisine over time. Through imperial expansion, immigration, and trade, ingredients and techniques from other cultures have been integrated into Chinese cooking, while Chinese culinary influences have spread worldwide.

There are many regional, religious, and ethnic styles of Chinese cuisine both in China and abroad. Chinese cuisine is highly diverse and is most often grouped by province, though these provincial categories contain many sub-styles. During the Qing dynasty, the most celebrated Four Great Traditions were Chuan, Lu, Yue, and Huaiyang, representing the cuisines of West, North, South, and East China, respectively. For instance, in Northern China, the dry, temperate climate supports wheat, millet, and other grains, making noodles, porridge, and bread dietary staples. In 1980, journalist Wang Shaoquan’s article in the *People’s Daily* identified the Eight Cuisines of China: Anhui, Guangdong, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangsu, Shandong, Sichuan, and Zhejiang.

Chinese cuisine is closely tied to traditional Chinese medicine, especially in the practice of food therapy. Color, scent, and taste are the three traditional aspects used to describe Chinese food, along with its meaning, appearance, and nutrition. Cooking is judged by ingredients, knife work, cooking time, and seasoning.

**History**

**Pre-Tang dynasty**

Chinese society highly valued gastronomy and developed a deep study of it based on traditional medical beliefs. Early Chinese culture centered on the North China Plain. The first domesticated crops were foxtail and broomcorn millet, while rice was grown in the south. By 2000 BC, wheat had arrived from western Asia. These grains were typically eaten as warm noodle soups rather than baked into bread as in Europe. Nobles hunted wild game and ate mutton, pork, and dog, as these animals were domesticated. Grain was stored for famine and flood, and meat was preserved with salt, vinegar, curing, and fermenting. Meat flavor was enhanced by cooking in animal fats, though this was mostly for the wealthy.

By the time of Confucius in the late Zhou, gastronomy was considered a high art. Confucius discussed dining principles: rice should never be too white, meat never too finely cut; food not cooked right was not eaten; badly cooked food was not eaten; improperly cut meat was not eaten; food without the right sauce was not eaten. Though plenty of meats were available, they should not be cooked more than staple food. There was no limit on alcohol until drunkenness. The *Lüshi chunqiu* notes that only the Son of Heaven would have the tastiest delicacies prepared for him. The *Zhaohun* (4th–3rd century BC) mentions turtle ragout, honey cakes, and beer chilled with ice.

During Shi Huangdi’s Qin dynasty, the empire expanded south. By the Han dynasty, different regions and cuisines were linked by major canals, leading to greater complexity in regional cuisines. Food was seen as providing *qi* (energy) and was also about maintaining yin and yang. This philosophy was rooted in the *I Ching* and traditional Chinese medicine: food was judged by color, aroma, taste, and texture, and a good meal balanced the Four Natures (hot, warm, cool, cold) and the Five Tastes (pungent, sweet, sour, bitter, salty). Salt was used as a preservative early on, but in cooking it was added as soy sauce, not at the table. By the Later Han period (2nd century), writers complained of lazy aristocrats who did nothing but eat smoked meats and roasts all day. During the Han dynasty, the Chinese developed food preservation methods for military rations, such as drying meat into jerky and cooking, roasting, and drying grain. Chinese legends say the roasted flatbread *shaobing* was brought from the Xiyu (Central Asia) by Han general Ban Chao, and that it was originally known as *hubing*.