· Shandong Cuisine	· Sichuan Cuisine	· Guangdong Cuisine	· Fujian Cuisine
· Jiangsu Cuisine	· Zhejiang Cuisine	· Hunan Cuisine	· Anhui Cuisine

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 Shangdong dishes tastes pungent usually. Soups are given much emphasis in Shangdong dishes. Thin soup features clear and fresh while creamy soup looks thick and tastes strong. Jinan cuisine is adept at deep-frying, grilling, frying and stir-frying while Jiaodong division is famous for cooking seafood with fresh and light taste.

Typical Courses: Bird's Nest Soup; the Yellow River Carp in Sweet and Sour sauce

Sichuan Cuisine

Sichuan Cuisine, known often in the West as Szechuan Cuisine, is one of the most famous Chinese cuisines in the world. Characterized by its spicy and pungent flavor, Sichuan cuisine, prolific of tastes, emphasizes on the use of chili. Pepper and prickly ash also never fail to accompany, producing typical exciting tastes. Besides, garlic, ginger and fermented soybean are also used in the cooking process. Wild vegetables and animals are usually chosen as ingredients, while frying, frying without oil, pickling and braising are applied as basic cooking techniques.

It cannot be said that one who does not experience Sichuan food ever reaches China.
Typical Courses: Hot Pot; Smoked Duck; Kung Pao Chicken; Twice Cooked Pork; Mapo Dofu.

Chinese Hot Pot

Chinese Hot Pot, plates filled with any combination of meat and seafood are placed around a communal pot filled with ginger-infused chicken stock. Set atop an electric hot plate or over hot coals, the stock simmers, while you cook your own ingredients in it. Dried shiitake mushrooms, and fresh vegetables such as bok choy, or spinach are added to the stock and eaten with a light, complementing serving of cellophane noodles.

Guangdong Cuisine (Cantonese Cuisine)

Tasting clear, light, crisp and fresh, Guangdong cuisine, familiar to Westerners, usually chooses raptors and beasts to produce originative dishes. Its basic cooking techniques include roasting, stir-frying, sauteing, deep-frying, braising, stewing and steaming. Among them Steaming and stir-frying are more commonly applied to preserve the natural flavor. Guangdong chefs also pay much attention to the artistic presentation of dishes.
Typical Courses: Shark's Fin Soup; Steamed Sea Bass; Roasted Piglet

Dim Sum

What is Dim Sum
In the Canton provinces, many people gather at tea houses during the morning and early afternoon to socialize or conduct business over small meals. In China this is most popularly called going to yum cha -- going to tea -- because the drinking of tea is so strongly associated with the snack foods served. Foreigners are most familiar with the term dim sum to describe these small meals. Dim sum, literally translated from the Cantonese, means "dot-hearts," small treats that touch the heart.

What Is Served
Most dim sum foods are savory pastries -- steamed or fried dumplings, filled buns, noodles. There are also sweet pastries, vegetables, meats. The portions are bite-sized, and they are served in small quantities, usually three or four to a plate, so that the diners can enjoy a variety of foods, whether they eat very little or indulge in a huge feast. Variety is one of the keys to dim sum. Some restaurants offer over 100 different items on a busy day.

How Dim Sum Is Served
The presentation of the dim sum meal has no equivalent. Servers push carts, loaded with a variety of foods, through the dining room, past the customers, who keep an eye out for appealing dishes. Once a desired item is in sight, the diner flags down the cart and points out what she wants. The dining room bustles with the activity of carts wending among tables, calls for attention, and the clatter of plates. The idea is to choose things continually throughout the meal, rather than to gather all the food at once before eating. Sweet items are interspersed with the savories; Chinese custom does not include saving sweets for the end of the meal, although they are reserved for special occasions, such as the pauses between courses in a banquet or indulgences like dim sum.

Fujian Cuisine

Consisting of Fuzhou Cuisine, Quanzhou Cuisine and Xiamen Cuisine, Fujian Cuisine is distinguished for its choice seafood, beautiful color and magic taste of sweet, sour, salty and savory. The most distinct features are their "pickled taste".

Typical Courses: Buddha Jumping Over the Wall; Snow Chicken; Prawn with Dragon's Body and Phoenix's tail

Jiangsu Cuisine

Jiangsu Cuisine, also called Huaiyang Cuisine, is popular in the lower reach of the Yangtze River. Aquatics as the main ingredients, it stresses the freshness of materials. Its carving techniques are delicate, of which the melon carving technique is especially well known. Cooking techniques consist of stewing, braising, roasting, simmering, etc. The flavor of Huaiyang Cuisine is light, fresh and sweet and with delicate elegance.

Typical Courses: Stewed Crab with Clear Soup, Long-boiled and Dry-shredded Meat, Duck Triplet, Crystal Meat, Squirrel with Mandarin Fish, and Liangxi Crisp Eel

Zhejiang Cuisine

Comprising local cuisines of Hanzhou, Ningbo and Shaoxing, Zhejiang Cuisine, not greasy, wins its reputation for freshness, tenderness, softness, smoothness of its dishes with mellow fragrance. Hangzhou Cuisine is the most famous one among the three.

Typical Courses: Sour West Lake Fish, Longjing Shelled Shrimp, Beggar's Chicken

Hunan Cuisine

Hunan cuisine consists of local Cuisines of Xiangjiang Region, Dongting Lake and Xiangxi coteau. It characterizes itself by thick and pungent flavor. Chili, pepper and shallot are usually necessaries in this division.

Typical Courses: Dongan Chick; Peppery and Hot Chick

Anhui Cuisine

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.

Typical Courses: Stewed Snapper; Huangshan Braised Pigeon