(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-02-14 09:16

Average temperatures in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, hover around -20 C this time of year, transforming balconies into natural refrigerators. Braised pork legs and ribs, beef and fish are frozen outdoors and prepared during the festival. Specialties from the region, such as stewed chicken with mushroom, sour pickled cabbage and wine, are indispensable to the feast.

In Fujian province, green stems of leaf mustard are cut into long slices and fried for the festival. Called changsheng cai (longevity dish), it represents everlasting youth.

In Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province, smoked and salted fish is prepared with the best grass carp. The carp are salted and marinated for more than 10 days, before being air-dried and steamed.

In Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu, a traditional dish for Spring Festival is shijin cai - an assorted dish in which 10 ingredients are fried together. Some common staples of the dish are spinach, carrots, black fungus, fragrant mushrooms, peanuts, lotus roots, bamboo sprouts, Chinese yams, celery, soybean sprouts and dried bean curd. It is a colorful and healthy dish, and completely vegetarian.

In Hubei province, preserved pork, fish and sausage are prepared two months before Spring Festival. Other dishes found on the tables there include steamed chicken, pork, fish, and boiled rice dumplings served in fermented glutinous rice wine.

In Sichuan's political and culinary capital Chengdu, Sichuan spicy sausage and preserved pork are served alongside salty or sweet streaked pork (xian shaobai/tian shaobai). Streaked pork is a famous delicacy in the province, and the dish is boiled and deep fried before being steamed.

Whatever they prepare, Chinese associate the names of their dishes with auspicious meanings. As the country becomes increasingly prosperous, people prepare a greater variety of foods than just traditional treats.

   1 2 3   

   1 2 3