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Chinese cuisine has a long history and is famous all over the world for its rich flavour and delightful colorings. Because of the different local climate, history and eating customs in each area, local dishes developed their own characteristics so special cuisine and local snacks were gradually formed.

Local Cuisine

Cantonese Dishes
Cantonese dishes comprise of Cantonese, Chaozhou and Dongjiang dishes. While Cantonese dishes being the representative, they are characterised by their great variety of ingredients, such as fresh water fish, seafood, birds, snakes, insects, rats etc.. Fresh materials and an exact degree of heat ensure a fresh and tender texture of Cantonese foods. The major condiments are oyster sauce, fermented soya bean sauce, fish sauce, lard, sugar and vinegar.

Shangdong Dishes
Shangdong Cuisine is famous for its wide selection of material and use of different cooking methods. Soups and dishes prepared with scallions are especially wide known. Also famous are its sea food dishes.

Sichuan Dishes
Sichuan dishes is one of the four major dishes in China and is noted for using Chinese prickly ash and hot pepper. It is characterised by a variety of flavouring and adaptability of cooking style. Sichuan cuisine enjoys high reputation with locals widespread publicity of "Best eat at Sichuan". Major flavouring styles include fish, the five-spices (prickly ash, star aniseed, cinnamon, clove and fennal), prickly ash-hot pepper, and vinegar-pepper flavouring style.

Huaiyang Dishes
Huaiyang Cuisine mainly consists of Yangzhou, Zhenjiang, and Juaian dishes in water villages south of the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) which are characterised by the strictness in material selecting, the emphasis of cleanliness and freshness of its ingredients, fine workmanship in cutting, matching, cooking and arrangement. Freshness and mildness in taste are the features of their dishes and special attention is paid to retaining ingredient's natural juices and flavours.

Special Cuisine

Imperial Palace Dishes
Imperial Palace dishes orginated from dishes cooked for the imperial family by the imperial kitchen. Imperial cuisine was developed on the basis of Shandong cuisine and later Islamic pastry and Tibetan dishes were included.
The Cuisine is characterised by its strictness in selecting ingredients. For example duck dishes must be made of Peking duck, mutton dishes must be made of black trotter or black-and-white faced sheep. It also emphasised on season food: instant-boiled mutton is consumed at the beginning of autumn, spring roll at the beginning of spring and shrimp in the summer. Quick-frying is used to keep flavour, tenderness and no extra juice in their dishes.

Vegatarian Dishes
Vegetarian cuisine has a long history and a high place in Chinese cuisine. Its main ingredients are green leaved vegetables, fruit, mushrooms, bean curd and vegetable oil, which are not only tasty and nutritious but also easy easy to digest and anti-cancer effect.
Major dishes include Vegetarian Chicken, Sauced Meat made of Bean Curd, Vegetarian Pork, Assorted Bean Curd, Mushroom with Gluten, Hot and Sour Slices, Vegetarian Prawn, Fish with Chiese Toon and Little Tender Meat.

Medicinal Dishes
Medicinal diet is an important component of Chinese culinary art. The five flavours of food, namely salty, sour, sweet, bitter and pungent, if applied appropriately in meal, would be conducive to one's health and longevity. Drawing from the theory of traditional Chinese medicine and pharmacy, Chinese culinary masters have found a scientific way for dietotherapy with proper cooking.
Well known dishes are Chicken Egg in Lilly Soup, Shrimp Slices with Pearl Powder, Tianfu-style Carp, Braised Duck Seasoned with Soysauce and Dried Tangerine Peel, Steamed Bun with Minced Meat and Tuckahoe Stuffing.