Through unexpected encounters, series traces the links between regional cooking, urban growth and everyday experiences, Li Yingxue reports.
For documentary filmmaker Chen Xiaoqing, understanding a city's food means looking beyond its signature dishes to the people who prepare, share and preserve them.
That philosophy shapes the documentary China Beyond Tastes 2, which premiered on Tencent Video on Oct 15 with an episode set in Leshan, Sichuan province. Across 12 episodes, Chen and his companions visit six cities — Leshan, Tianjin, Shanghai, Lhasa, capital of the Xizang autonomous region, Beihai in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, and Zhangzhou in Fujian province — exploring how regional cuisines reflect local history and evolving ways of life.
The new season follows the first, which premiered in December 2023 and received an 8.4 rating on Chinese review platform Douban. After years of exploring the country's food culture through A Bite of China and Once Upon a Bite, Chen takes a more personal approach, allowing conversations and unexpected discoveries to shape the narrative.
