Food And Culture In Canton And Hong Kong

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Cantonese food is one of the 4 major cuisine in China and it has attracted the people from all around the world for its taste, quality and variety. There was once a Chinese proverb says that one should "marry in Suzhou, live in Hangzhou, dine in Guangzhou, and die in Liuzhou," since these cities have, respectively, the prettiest girls, best views, best food, and best coffin woods. These prove the importance of Cantonese cuisine in China. Another proverb says that Cantonese "eat everything with legs except a table, and everything with wings except an airplane." People can find cuisines that might be impossible to find in other provinces, like snake, dogs, cats and even worms. This proved the variety of Cantonese food. The history of Cantonese cuisine can be traced by to Qin dynasty and its development was closely related to the political, economic and social factors in China. In Wei Jin South and Northern dynasties, people in Northern China started to fled south to Guangdong to escape from political upheavals. They brought not only central culture with them but also cooking method in Northern China’s cuisine and it contribute to the development of Cantonese cuisine. After the opium war, foreigners brought western food culture to China and Guangzhou was the one of the first province to accept Western influence. Western food culture introduced new cooking method such as bake, pan fry and deep fry into Cantonese cuisine this made Cantonese cuisine so unique from other Chinese cuisines. Cantonese food is, theoretically speaking is the food of Cantonese speakers. In Guangdong province alone there are already several dialects. The north parts of Guangdong are inhabited by Hakka and Chiu Chow people who speak Hakka and Chiu Chow dialect; they have their own distinctive cuisines. Much of Guangxi, especially in the west and south, is inhabited by Zhuang and other

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