China has a long history and has a vast territory and large population, it has a rich and varied food culture. We could understand the Chinese food culture from different point of views, such as diet people, geographical regions and seasons. Food is an important part of daily life for Chinese people. Chinese not only enjoy eating but believe eating good food can bring harmony and closeness to the family and relationships. Every chinese can tell you the idiom - "People view food as the most important".

Different regions in China may offer much different styles of cooking and cuisines. In mainland of China, There are about eight major geographical regional Chinese cuisines, which are :

•     Sze-chuan Cuisine
•     Shan-dong Cuisine
•     Huai-yang Cuisine
•     Zhe-jiang Cuisine
•     An-hui Cuisine
•     Fu-jian    Cuisine
•     Hu-nan Cuisine
•     Guang-dong Cuisine

Chinese people are more concerned with the food's texture, color, flavor, and aroma. These elemnets consist of the crucial points for good Chinese cooking. The daily meals includes four food groups: grains, vegetables, fruit, and meat. After dinner, many Chinese families usually eat seasonal fruit as dessert. Chinese desserts such as red bean soup, sweet white lotus's seed soup, or steam papaya soup are served every so often as a special treat on a hot summer's night.

The traditional Chinese culture believes that there is a positive energy called "Yang", and a negative energy called "Yin" in the universe. Yin and Yang should be equally balanced to keep a harmonious and healthy state of the human body, otherwise, conflict and disease damage the human body. Each object of the world belongs to either Yin or Yang. The importance of balancing forces can be traced back for thousands of years in Chinese history, it has become a basic guideline for social, political, medical, and dietary usage. Cold Foods, belonging to the yin, include bitter melon, winter melon, Chinese green, mustard green, water crest, Napa cabbage, bean sprout, soybean, mung bean, tulip, water chestnut, cilantro, oranges, watermelon, bananas, coconut, cucumber, beer, pop, ice cream, ice chips, grass jelly, clams, and oysters. These foods cannot be eaten excessively and might cause stomachaches, diarrhea, dizziness, weakness, and coldness in the human body. On the other side, Hot Foods, belong to the yang, include chili pepper, garlic, onion, curry, cabbage, eggplant, toro, pineapple, mango, cherry, peanuts, beef, turkey, shrimp, crab, French fries, fried chicken, and pizza. Excessive intake of these foods are thought to cause skin rashes, hives, pimples, nose bleeds, gas, indigestion, constipation, redness in the eyes, and sore throat. Both food groups need to be balanced evenly, not taken excessively or deficiently in order to hold a harmonious and healthy state of human body.

The Chinese culture gives different foods with different meanings, so that in certain occasion a kind of food, can only be eaten by some specific individuals, or a kind of food must be eaten in specific occasion. Long noodle is the symbol of longevity in China, so youngsters and seniors all will be given  bowl of Long Life Noodle at their birthday to expect a healthy life. In Central China, if a baby is born, his father will send Red Boiled Egg to his Relatives and neighbours to announce the news. Fish is always served to symbolize prosperity and wealth accumulation during Chinese Spring Festival.

We can simply explain the deep meaning of Chinese food culture with four words - delicate, beautiful, emotional and courtesy. The word Delicate is a perfect summary of intrinsic quality for the Chinese food culture. The word beautiful is used to decribe the appearance and taste of china food. The word emotional explains that catering activities in China could offer more social and psychological functions. While the word Courtesy shows the relationship between diet and the traditional Chinese culture.