China is a country that has five-thousand years of history and therefore, has had five thousand years to develop Chinese Cuisine. Chinese cuisines are famous for their harmonious combination of color, aroma and taste. They consist of the courses from the loyal family, the big official families and the regional ordinary people’s family.

Chinese cuisines’ entree normally strive for three to five colors, made up of the main ingredient, with more secondary ingredients of contrasting colors and textures. These are prepared and cooked to enhance their own qualities, with the use of appropriate condiments and garnishing, enabling the chef to present a delicious platter of fragrant art. The seasonings of the Chinese cuisines are very special and are different than those of other countries. Among the many cooking methods chefs use are boiling, stewing, braising, frying, steaming, crisping, baking, and simmering and so on. When they finish their masterpieces they are arranged on a variety of plates and dishes so that they are a real pleasure to view, to smell and ultimately to savor. (Chinese Cuisine, 2007)

Chinese food enjoys a high reputation in the world for its sheer abundance. The Chinese cuisine is different due to the diversity of the climate, products and customs; there are wide a variety of different food styles and tastes in local regions. One popular summary of Chinese food is “sweet in the south, salty in north, sour in the west, and spicy in the east.” (Chinese Cuisines)

The Chinese cuisines can be divided into eight main styles by the different regions, namely, Shandong Cuisine, Sichuan Cuisine, Cantonese Cuisine, Fujian Cuisine, Jiangsu Cuisine, Zhejiang Cuisine, Hunan Cuisine and Anhui Cuisine.

The Chinese cuisines are becoming increasingly popular around the world, especially in western society. As such, the art of Chinese cooking has gradually moved from the restaurants into home kitchens. So let us introduce the Chinese cuisines for you.