New Beijing eatery celebrates traditional tastes of Nanjing

Diners hoping to have a glimpse into old times in Nanjing should visit a new restaurant in the Wangfujing area of Beijing. Nanjing Impressions, a restaurant chain with outlets in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Nanjing, has recently opened a branch there to emphasize its culinary origin and cultural legacy.

The chain is generally considered to specialize in Huaiyang cuisine, one of the four major cuisines in China that is characterized by light and never-spicy flavors and meticulous ways of cutting and heating the ingredients. The food is actually of Nanjing style, a sub-category of Huaiyang cuisine.

Literally meaning "south capital", Nanjing is the capital of Jiangsu province, and it served as the national capital for six ancient dynasties, with the earliest dating back to one of the Three Kingdoms (AD 220-280). Its prominence in politics, economics and culture has boosted the development of Nanjing-style cuisine since ancient times; when the city was the political heart of the Kuomintang administration before 1949, colloquially known as "Minguo", the city's style of food reached its peak.