The traditional classification is the 八大菜系, the eight great cuisines, formalised in the Qing dynasty. It is a simplification — every province has traditions the list ignores, and the northwest and the minority regions barely appear — but it is the framework Chinese people themselves use.
The eight#
Sichuan (川菜, Chuan)#
The most influential regional cuisine in modern China and the one that has conquered domestic taste in the last thirty years.
Defined by málà (麻辣) — the numbing tingle of Sichuan peppercorn combined with the heat of chilli. Crucially, Sichuan cooking recognises around twenty-four distinct flavour profiles, and only a minority are hot: yúxiāng (fish-fragrant, sweet-sour-garlicky, containing no fish), guàiwèi (strange flavour), chénpí (dried tangerine peel), and plenty of mild.
Order: mapo tofu, twice-cooked pork, fish-fragrant aubergine, kung pao chicken (the real one, with a light vinegar edge), dan dan noodles, fuqi feipian, water-boiled fish.
Eat it in: Chengdu, Chongqing.
Cantonese (粤菜, Yue)#
The cuisine the world knows, because Guangdong and Hong Kong provided most of the 19th and 20th century Chinese diaspora.
Prizes freshness and restraint above all: steaming, quick stir-frying at very high heat (wok hei, "breath of the wok"), clear broths, minimal spice, and the natural taste of the ingredient. Technically the most demanding of the eight, because there is nowhere to hide.
Order: dim sum (har gow, siu mai, char siu bao, cheung fun), roast goose, char siu, steamed whole fish with ginger and spring onion, slow-simmered soups, clay pot rice.
Eat it in: Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Shunde.
Shandong (鲁菜, Lu)#
The oldest of the eight and the foundation of northern Chinese and imperial court cooking. Salty and savoury, heavy on seafood from the coast, wheat rather than rice, garlic, spring onion and vinegar, and famous for its mastery of broths.
Order: sweet-and-sour Yellow River carp, braised sea cucumber with spring onion, dezhou braised chicken, and the mastery of clear and milky stocks.
Eat it in: Jinan, Qingdao, and — indirectly — in Beijing, whose restaurant tradition is largely Shandong-derived.
Jiangsu (苏菜, Su) and Huaiyang#
Refined, delicate, precise. Emphasises knife skills, soups, braising, and a subtle sweetness. Huaiyang cooking, its most famous branch, is regarded as one of the four great traditions in its own right and was the cuisine of state banquets.
Order: lion's head meatballs, squirrel-shaped mandarin fish, salted duck (Nanjing), crystal pork, wensi tofu — a soup in which a block of tofu is cut into thousands of hair-fine threads.
Eat it in: Nanjing, Yangzhou, Suzhou.
Zhejiang (浙菜, Zhe)#
Fresh, mellow, slightly sweet, and closely tied to freshwater fish, bamboo shoots and tea.
Order: Dongpo pork, West Lake vinegar fish, beggar's chicken, Longjing shrimp, Shaoxing wine-marinated dishes.
Eat it in: Hangzhou, Ningbo, Shaoxing.
Fujian (闽菜, Min)#
Coastal and mountainous: seafood, mushrooms, soups, and a distinctive use of red fermented rice wine lees. Fujian cooking is soup-obsessed in a way no other region is.
Order: Buddha Jumps Over the Wall (an extravagant, expensive layered soup), fish ball soup, oyster omelette, sha cha noodles, and the peanut-heavy street food of Xiamen.
Eat it in: Fuzhou, Xiamen, Quanzhou.
Hunan (湘菜, Xiang)#
Hotter than Sichuan in raw chilli terms, without the numbing peppercorn. Sour, smoky and pungent, using fresh and pickled chillies, smoked and cured meats, and fermented preparations.
Order: steamed fish head with chopped chillies, Mao's red-braised pork, smoked bacon with garlic sprouts, stinky tofu (the black Changsha version, which is a national obsession).
Eat it in: Changsha, and near Zhangjiajie.
Anhui (徽菜, Hui)#
The least known of the eight. Mountain ingredients — wild herbs, bamboo, game — with heavy braising, stewing and an unusual comfort with fermented and "smelly" foods.
Order: stinky mandarin fish (fermented before cooking, savoury rather than unpleasant), Wenzheng mountain bamboo shoots, hairy tofu.
Eat it in: the Huizhou villages near Huangshan.
The traditions the list leaves out#
Northeastern (东北菜) — hearty, generous, Russian-influenced. Guobaorou, di san xian, suancai stew, enormous dumplings.
Xinjiang / Uyghur — Central Asian: lamb kebabs, laghman hand-pulled noodles, polo pilaf, tandoor-baked nan. One of the most distinctive food cultures in China and completely unlike Han cuisine. See Xinjiang.
Shaanxi — wheat country: roujiamo, biangbiang noodles, yangrou paomo, liangpi. Concentrated in Xi'an's Muslim Quarter.
Yunnan — the most ingredient-diverse region in China: wild mushrooms (a summer obsession, with a genuine annual toll of hallucinations and poisonings), crossing-the-bridge noodles, Dai sour and herbal cooking, goat cheese.
Guizhou — sour rather than hot: sour fish soup, fermented chilli, and a tradition distinct from both Sichuan and Hunan.
Chaoshan (Teochew) — from eastern Guangdong: beef hotpot with astonishingly precise cuts, marinated goose, oyster omelette, and a cult following among Chinese food enthusiasts.
Beijing — Shandong-derived, but with its own imperial and Manchu layer: Peking duck, instant-boiled mutton, zhajiangmian.
How to eat well anywhere#
- Eat the local speciality. Ordering Sichuan food in Guangzhou is like ordering paella in Berlin.
- Follow the queue. A crowded shop with plastic stools beats an empty restaurant with a laminated English menu, consistently.
- Use Dianping (大众点评). The Chinese restaurant database. Chinese-only, but photo-driven and navigable, and its ratings are reliable.
- Eat breakfast out. Chinese breakfast — congee, youtiao, soy milk, baozi, noodles, jianbing — is a serious meal, costs ¥8–20, and is where much of the best street food is.
- Order across categories. A good table has something braised, something stir-fried, a vegetable, a soup and a starch. Ordering four meat dishes is a rookie error.
Frequently asked questions#
What are the eight great cuisines of China?#
Shandong (Lu), Sichuan (Chuan), Cantonese (Yue), Jiangsu (Su), Fujian (Min), Zhejiang (Zhe), Hunan (Xiang) and Anhui (Hui). The classification dates from the Qing dynasty and leaves out several major traditions, including Northeastern, Xinjiang, Shaanxi and Yunnan cooking.
Is Chinese food in China different from Chinese food abroad?#
Substantially. Most Chinese food served abroad derives from Cantonese cooking adapted to local tastes and available ingredients. Dishes like kung pao chicken exist in China but taste quite different, and entire regional traditions — Hunan, Guizhou, Uyghur, Chaoshan — are barely represented outside the country.
Which Chinese cuisine is the spiciest?#
Hunan (Xiang) uses the most raw chilli heat, while Sichuan (Chuan) combines chilli with the numbing tingle of Sichuan peppercorn, called málà. Guizhou cooking is intense in a different direction, favouring sourness and fermentation over pure heat.
What is the most famous Chinese dish?#
Depends where you ask. Internationally, sweet and sour pork and kung pao chicken; within China, Peking duck, mapo tofu, hotpot and dim sum are the dishes with genuine national standing. Every province will argue for its own.
How do I find good restaurants in China?#
Use Dianping (大众点评), the Chinese restaurant review app — it is photo-driven and navigable even without Chinese. Otherwise, follow queues of locals, favour places specialising in one dish, and eat the regional speciality of wherever you are.