The archive
All articles
Every published story in the China Eating archive. Filter by category to narrow the list, or jump to the search page for a free-text query.
Showing 10 articles in the archive. Page 1 of 2.
- Starter Guide
What to Eat in China: A First-Timer's Food Map
The eight regional cuisines, the rituals of the shared table, and the dishes worth planning a trip around.
- Eating Culture
How to Read a Chinese Menu When You Speak Zero Mandarin
Photo menus, character radicals, and the four-ingredient trick that unlocks 80% of regional restaurant cooking.
- Ingredients & Sauces
Mala Explained: The Science Behind Sichuan's Numbing Spice
Hydroxy-alpha-sanshool, chili oil temperature, and why a Chengdu hotpot is engineered to tingle, not burn.
- Eating Culture
Dim Sum Cart Etiquette: How to Push, Point, and Pay
What the colored stamps mean, when to leave a table, and the dishes most regulars quietly skip.
- Regional Cuisine
Peking Duck, Deconstructed: Wood, Skin, Sauce, Sugar
A look at the three-day air-drying, the scallion-white ratio, and the etiquette of the first bite.
- Street Food
Night Markets: Taipei vs. Chengdu, Side by Side
Two of Asia's most beloved after-dark food scenes, compared stall by stall and snack by snack.
- Eating Culture
The Quiet History of the Chinese Dumpling
From winter solstice medicine to Lunar New Year ritual — the long, surprisingly political story of a folded bite.
- Ingredients & Sauces
The 12 Bottles and Jars Behind a Chinese Home Kitchen
Soy sauce, dark soy, Chinkiang vinegar, doubanjiang, Shaoxing wine, and the nine other staples that show up in everything.
- Eating Culture
Why Chinese Meals End With Tea, Not Dessert
How yancha, pu'er, and jasmine tea close a meal, aid digestion, and signal when the host thinks you're done.
