Eight Most Popular Chinese food for foreigners in China

China is abundant in tourism sources. Delicious Chinese foods are indispensable in a good tour. With long China history, unique features, numerous styles and exquisite cooking, Chinese Cuisine is one important constituent part of Chinese culture. Chinese dishes are famous for color, aroma, taste, meaning and look. Following are the most eight popular dishes among foreigners and Chinese. For customers’ convenience, we also list their Chinese names and English pronunciations.

1. Sweet and Sour Pork
Sweet and sour pork has bright color of orange red, and a delicious taste of sweet and sour. At the very beginning there is only Sweet and Sour Pork, to meet more demands, there are some developments on this dish. Now, the pork can be intended by other ingredients like chicken, beef and pork ribs.

2. Gongbao Chicken
It is a famous Sichuan-style specialty both popular in Chinese and foreigners. The major ingredients are diced chicken, dried chili, and fried peanuts. People in western countries even created a western-style Gong Bao Chicken, that the diced chicken is coved with cornstarch, and vegetables, sweet sauce and mashed garlic are added.

3. Mapo Tofu
Ma Po Tofu is one of the most famous dishes in Chuan Cuisine with a history more 100 years. Ma (麻) is a spicy and hot taste which comes from pepper powder, one kind of condiment usually used in Chuan Cuisine. The milky tofu is enriched with brownish red ground beef and chopped green onion, it is really a tasty delicacy.

4. Wonton
Since Tang Dynasty (618–907), it is a custom for people eating Wonton in winter solstice (a solar term always occurs on December 21 or 22 each year in the Northern Hemisphere, and June 20 or 21 in the Southern Hemisphere). The most versatile shape of wonton is simple right triangle, similar to Italian tortellini. Wontons are commonly boiled and served in soup or sometimes deep-fried. The filling of wonton can be minced pork or diced shrimp.

5. Dumplings
With a long history of more than 1800 years, dumpling is a traditional food widely popular in China, especially in north China such as Zhengzhou, Chengde, Dalian, Harbin, etc. Dumpling generally consists of minced meat and finely chopped vegetables wrapped into a thin and elastic piece of dough skin. Popular fillings can be mince pork, diced shrimp, fish, ground chicken, beef, vegetables, etc. They can be cooked by boiling, steaming, frying or baking. Dumplings are the symbol of Chinese food, and a traditional dish eaten on Chinese New Year’s Eve.

6.Spring Rolls
Spring roll is a Cantonese dim sum with elongated shape. The fillings of spring rolls could be vegetables or meat, and the taste could be either sweet or salt. After the fillings wrapped into spring roll wrappers, the next step is frying. Then the spring rolls with the color of golden yellow are prepared.

7. Chow Main
The "Chow Mein" is Cantonese pronunciation which means stir-fried noodles. Generally speaking, the stir-fried dish consists of noodles, meat (including chicken, beef, shrimp, or pork), onions and celery. For making chow mein, the noodles need to be cooked in boiled water for a while, after they becoming cool, then move to the step of stir-frying.

8.Beijing Roast Duck
Peking Duck is a famous duck dish from Beijing, enjoying world fame, and is considered as one of China’s national dishes. The Peking duck is praised for the thin and crispy skin. The sliced Peking duck is often eaten with pancakes, sweet bean sauce, or soy with mashed garlic. Visitors in Beijing also can relish other delicious delicacies such as Mongolian Pot, Bifengtang Prawns and Shredded Potato.

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