Hot, red chili peppers

The chili peppers may be uniformly scorching, but how its heat is expressed differs in China, ranging from Hunan's pure flame to Sichuan's oily and numbing mala to Yunnan and Guangxi's tart taste

Editor's Note: China is divided into as many culinary regions as there are different ethnic groups. Its geographical diversity and kaleidoscopic cultural profiles contribute to an unending banquet of flavors.

The original spice girls are from Western China's Hunan province, where the lasses are famous for loving their red hot chilies. They are immortalized in a catchy ditty that has become the signature song of folk diva Song Zuying, who is also from Hunan.