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Quick answers
What is Chinese cuisine?
中餐 grew from millet and rice civilisations, soy fermentation and a wok that could feed cities. "Chinese food" abroad is mostly Cantonese and later Sichuan, not the eight-great-tradition map.
Is it always spicy?
Chinese cuisine sits at spice 62 in this atlas. Peking duck and Dim sum show the range better than a single heat number.
What should a first meal include?
Peking duck plus one regional plate — not only the export icon.
What is Wok hei?
The seared aroma from a properly hot wok — "breath of the wok".
How do people eat at home?
A home table is rice or noodles, a green, a protein and a soup — not a single plated "main". Street China is jianbing, skewers and late-night noodles; banquet China is whole fish and ceremony.
What travels poorly?
The home pantry around Wok hei and the labour behind Dim sum rarely fit a takeaway box.
Chinese cuisine changes by valley, coast and capital. Guangzhou teahouses is one node, not the whole map.
The meters treat heat, ferment, street density and sharing as the axes that actually organise meals.
Systems
Cantonese / Lingnan
Wok hei, siu mei, dim sum and a light hand with chili.
Sichuan basin
Mala, pickled vegetables and a humid-heat pantry.
Jiangnan
Sweet-savoury braises, soup dumplings and vinegar.
Northern wheat
Dumplings, noodles, breads and lamb-adjacent Hui cooking.
Hunan
Dry chili heat distinct from Sichuan numbness.
Frontier tables
Xinjiang, Yunnan and Dongbei as full systems, not garnish.
Flavour meters
Cities & regions
Guangzhou teahouses
Yum cha as a living weekend institution.
Chengdu alleys
Mala, rabbit heads and hotpot as ordinary, not tourist spice.
Shanghai dumpling rooms
Xiaolongbao and the Jiangnan snack belt.
Xi'an Muslim quarter
Hand-pulled noodles and Yangrou paomo.
Hong Kong siu mei streets
Window roast as urban infrastructure.
Materials
Soy ferments
Sauce, douchi, furu, doubanjiang.
Rice and wheat
The split grain that predicts the lunch form.
Pork and greens
The everyday protein and the obligatory vegetable.
Chili and Sichuan pepper
The southwest pair, not a national default.
Regional pride in this cuisine is argued through Peking duck and Dim sum more than through a single official recipe.
Keep exploring
More in East Asia
Korean cuisine
Fermented heat and shared grills: kimchi, gochujang and banchan from the Korean Peninsula.
Overall 76 🍣Japanese cuisine
Dashi, rice and seasonal restraint: washoku from sushi counters to home miso soup.
Overall 72 🍲Vietnamese cuisine
Herbs, nuoc mam and a French-colonial overlay: pho, banh mi and the regional split from Hanoi to the Mekong.
Overall 68 🌶️Thai cuisine
Hot, sour, salty, sweet: nam prik, fish sauce and the regional map from Bangkok street to Isan grilled chicken.
Overall 77