A Chinese cookbook for happiness and success

published by: epubli GmbH, Berlin, www.epubli.de 

Copyright: © 2014 Nadine Koerner 

ISBN 978-3-8442-8027-2

1. Introduction

1.1 Why a Chinese cookbook for happiness and success and why you need it.

How happy were you on March 20th this year?

You were very happy? Great, thank God, you don’t need to continue reading this book.

Not overtly happy for some reasons? Keep on reading.

You cannot recall any specific feelings from the 20th of March at all?

Keep on reading and please note that the United Nations has named the 20 March the International Day of Happiness![1]

Taking this as a reason to reflect, on 20th of March I walked along the Bijiang River in Shunde, South China. About 6.35 am, the sun rose, painting the sky from soft red, pink, orange to a warm yellow, creating a magnificent, nearly magical moment. A Chinese man with long grey beard in a white sleeveless shirt and wide grey trousers, washed or faded out, practiced Tai Chi along the river, smiling all the time. He seemed completely happy and at peace with himself and the world - like so many Chinese people I had watched when they were doing their morning exercises along the river. I smiled at him, caught his eyes, smiled and went closer. Why did he seem to be so happy, was he really so happy?

He gave me an even bigger smile. So I took all my courage and asked: “Sorry to interrupt you, but you seem to be very happy…!”

He continued moving slowly, gently, and apparently effortlessly and answered: ‘Happy? Of course I am happy!”

So I asked again: “Sorry again, why you are so happy and what actually does happiness mean to you?”

A fresh breeze came along from the river and the leaves of the palm trees along the river moved like to a fine music.

Calmly the man answered: “See, I have everything I need. Happiness is just like this: the cat has fish to eat and the dog has bones to gnaw. A dog should not hunt for the fish and the cat should not look for bones and they will always be happy.’

I nodded and replied: “Sorry again, but what is it then that we should look for?”

The man replied: ‘Well, most people look for money and other possessions, equaled with success and happiness. These are the unhappy people. If you truly want to be happy, remember that happiness and success are what you define them to be.”

Then he paused for a second, took a deep breath and continued: “as for me, it is to practice here every morning and be one with nature.’

If you were not overtly happy on March 20th or most other days of the year, it is time to pause and reflect.

It is well true that most people strive for money, career, fame, villas, and fancy cars, because they correlate those ‘things’ with success. And in their mind, once they are successful, they will be happy. Are you one of those people? Is it really like that? And what is it exactly, that makes you happy?

For most Chinese people, food is one of the keys to happiness; this is described by the philosopher and writer Lin Yutang, who lived from 1895 till 1976: “How a Chinese spirit glows over a good feast! How apt is he to cry out that life is beautiful when his stomach and his intestines are well filled! From this well filled stomach suffuses and radiates a happiness that is spiritual…”[2] Similarly, the Taiwanese archeologist and sinologist Chang brought to attention that “Chinese people are especially preoccupied with food” and “food is at the center of, or at least it accompanies or symbolizes, many social interactions.”[3]

Interestingly there is also a Vietnamese saying that “happiness is eating Chinese food, having a Japanese wife and living in a Western house.”[4]

That food is directly linked to happiness in China can be noticed during Chinese New Year, when foods are eaten, which symbolise happiness and good fortune like small shrimps and fish. Besides that food has been linked to happiness and success in China for a long time already, China is also one of the few countries, where the government actively seeks measures to increase happiness levels of the people (see chapter 2.4)

Consequently there are many good reasons to learn more about Chinese cuisine and cooking.

But why do you need THIS cookbook?

For most people, cooking is an every day activity and necessity, which takes time. Most cookbooks teach you only one thing: how to cook food. THIS book teaches you how to cook and how to use the time you spend on cooking for enhancing your happiness and success at the same time! In addition, this book helps you to:

apprehend what happiness for you is and what you need to be happy - and thus promote your happiness

become conscious what success means for you and in which areas you want to be successful – and thus promote your success

find out the reasons why you are not as happy or successful as you might want to be and show solutions

cook delicious, easy and healthy Chinese recipes

release stress, as cooking is a proven ‘stress-reliever’[5]

keeps you in the moment and shifts your attention from worries to recipes for happy and successful living

and thus enhance not only your happiness and success but your overall long-term well-being, the secret to a long and fulfilled life.

1.2 The definition of happiness and success around the world

Ask a hundred people what happiness is and you get a hundred answers. Therefore one of the greatest challenges in the study of happiness lies in its definition. Happiness can be seen as a vast umbrella term that can mean different things to different people. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, happiness is defined as either good fortune in the sense of prosperity or as a state of well-being and contentment in the sense of joy or as a pleasurable or satisfying experience.[6]

In psychology, happiness is often comprehended in three ways—as a hedonic state, a cognitive state, or a general life philosophy. Happiness then can refer to a way of thinking, such as being optimistic; a way of feeling joy, pleasure, relief, or gratitude; or simply a way of being. Most definitions in psychology include ‘a predominance of positive over negative affect’ and ‘satisfaction with life as a whole’. Other disciplines and people make a clearer distinction between the concept of happiness and the positive emotions the word describes. Happiness in that way can be simply drive reduction. It’s as if you’re driving down the highway and your stomach is growling. You see a McDonald’s drive-in, pull over and order a double cheeseburger and a McFlurry. That makes you ‘happy’. Well for a moment, the moment you are eating. But that satisfaction is fleeting—the resultant heartburn likely lasts longer than your gratification. Thus, happiness is a conscious state of mind, entrenched in the neo-cortex, the region of the brain responsible for planning, decision–making and thinking. So you eat a double cheeseburger and think, “Oh man, I feel good, I am happy now.”

When analyzing dictionary definitions of happiness from different nations, it turns out that the most frequent definition of happiness highlights good luck and favorable external conditions, as in the case of estimated 80 % of nations. However, luck didn’t factor into the modern conception of happiness in Spain, Argentina, Ecuador, India, and Kenya.[7]

In American English, happiness means favorable internal conditions like feelings and studies show that many young Americans associate happiness with excitement, while older generations link it with comforting, peaceful emotions. For North Americans and Europeans, happiness tends to be defined in terms of personal achievement and happiness is said to correlate with self-esteem. For East Asians on the other side, happiness tends to be defined in terms of interpersonal connectedness and happiness is best predicted by how well embedded the self is in a social network.[8]

And now the good news: no matter how one defines happiness, it is limitless. Just as someone’s bad mood can be passed on, happiness may be a collective phenomenon too. So having a happy friend, who lives within a mile of you, appears to increase the probability that you will be happy as well. Just as some diseases are contagious, happiness can be too.

Also, success, just like happiness, means different things to different people. Consequently there is no clear-cut, universal definition of success.

Some define it through quantifiable constant self-improvements over skill sets, scientific knowledge and progressive self-development. Some define it by how much money they make. Others define it by their career path and corresponding title.

From its Latin origin the word ‘success’ actually means "to advance" or "to progress" which implies that success is not "something" you get at the end, but a process that has very little to do with the end result. From this point of view success is what will improve your life as it is what moves you forward to a better experience of life.

And it is up to you what kind of experience you want out of life.

You are in the driver seat. You are the cook in the kitchen. So choose the right recipe for your own happiness and success.

1.3 Following the trend towards sustainability: Sustainable happiness and success

For most people, happiness is just like a single sun ray, passing quickly. Sustainable happiness, however, is happiness that lasts, not only seconds, minutes, but for every day. That is what most people want. Happiness forever after… as it is so nicely superimposed in so many fairy tales. In positive psychology this is illustrated in a formula as:

H = S + C + V

This means: enduring/sustainable Happiness (H) = Set Point (S) + Circumstances (C) + factors under Voluntary Control (V).[9]

The happiness set point refers to the situation when nothing extremely happy or sad happens, it is determined to some degree by our genes. According to researchers, the set points makes up 50% of our happiness, while circumstances 10% and factors under voluntary control, meaning the activities we choose to do, make up 40%. Consequently, in order to increase happiness and step towards sustainable happiness it is necessary to have some recipes to raise the set point and influence the factors under voluntary control positively, which means choosing activities which contribute to our happiness! Only 10 % of our happiness might be out of our control, so it is up to us to be happy, it is our choice! So if you want happiness to be sustainable and ‘forever after’, you have to make it to your predominant state of mind, which can be achieved by changing your overall attitude with the help of the recipes in chapter 4.

When it comes to success, most people lose sight of the real reason why they actually want to be successful. Many assume, once they get all those ‘things’, referred to as ‘status symbols’ or ‘success symbols’, like a penthouse in Manhattan, a yacht in Miami Beach and a Ferrari in their garage, they can consider themselves as successful and then they will feel happy! Well… for a short time. Until a friend has got a newer and bigger yacht and the Ferrari has got scratches making it look second-hand. Surely most of your desires will be obtainable within your lifetime but this no guarantee that you will be happy and fulfilled. Therefore it is necessary to strive for sustainable success.

What is sustainable success? Sustainable success is inexhaustible and consistent. For you to have success that is sustainable you have to develop a new mindset to focus on what you must become to attract that which you want. That means you can either obtain success or you can become it. The mindset is very different, because adopting the mentality of creating lasting success, of becoming sustainable, starts with realizing that success is a feeling! Yes, success is actually one kind of feeling. So when you are making that feeling part of who you are, especially with help of the recipes in chapter 4.3 and 4.4, you will never be without success again.

1.4 The relationship between happiness and success

When it comes to the relationship between happiness and success, most people assume that success leads to happiness. There are quite a lot of ancient stories from Asia about happiness and success and one of them goes like this:

A woman came out of her home and saw three old men with long beards who sat before her garden. She did not know them and said:

—I don’t think I know you, but you may be hungry, so please come in and have something to eat.

They asked:

—Is the man of the house there? —No, she answered, he is not yet here. -Then we cannot enter, they said.

In the evening, when the husband arrived, she told him what happened.

—Tell them that I already arrived and invite them to come in’, said her husband.

The woman came out to invite the men to enter her house and be their guests.

—We cannot enter a house the three together, answered the old men. —Why?, she wanted to know.

One of the men pointed to other of his friends and explained:

—His name is Wealth. Then pointing to the other one: —His name is Success and I am called Love. Now go in and decide with your husband which one of the three you wish to invite to your home.

The woman entered her home and told her husband what they said. The man became happy:

—How good! Le us invite Wealth, so that he enters and fills our home.

However his wife shook her head and disagreed:

—Dear, why don't we invite Success?

The couple's daughter was listening from the other corner of the house and came running:

—Wouldn't it be better to invite Love? Our home would then be full of love. —The husband nodded: Good, let’s take our daughter's advice into account, go out and invite Love to be our guest.

The wife came out and asked:

—Which one of you is Love? Please come in and be our guest.

Love stood up and started to walk towards the house. The other ones stood up and followed. Surprised the lady asked Wealth and Success:

—I invited only Love, why do you too come in?

The old men answered together:

—If you had invited Wealth or Success the other ones would have stayed outside, but since you invited Love, where he goes, we also go with him. Wherever there is love, there is also wealth and success.[10]

The discussion about the relationship between happiness and success goes on. Most people want to be successful in life. And of course, everyone wants to be happy. When it comes to the pursuit of success and happiness, most people assume the same formula: ‘if I work hard, I will become successful, and once I become successful, then I'll be happy.’ The only problem is that research in the field of positive psychology has proven that this formula is not correct. Success does not cause happiness.

It is rather like in the story above… love is the key to wealth and success, and so is happiness.

Happy people, all those who experience a predominance of positive emotions, tend to be successful and accomplished across various areas in life. Why? Simply because an individual experiencing a positive mood and emotion is usually encountering circumstances that he or she interprets as looked-for. In these circumstances, people are most likely to expand their resources and friendships and to take the opportunity to build their repertoire of skills for future use and work actively toward achieving new goals.

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.[11] ~A. Schweitzer

1.5 History of happiness and success definitions and research

Happiness can be seen as a function of space and time because the way happiness has been viewed and researched over the last few thousand years was constantly changing, depending on geographical area and time period.

The psychological and philosophical pursuit of happiness began nearly 2500 years ago in China with philosophers and teachers like Confucius, Mencius and in Greece with Socrates, and Aristotle. “The happy,” said Aristotle, “are the happy few.” Aristotle distinguished between happiness and amusement, as happiness could be achieved through contemplation, but amusement not. Socrates thought of happiness as something at least partially within one’s control, especially through the education of desire as key to happiness.[12]

For most people at most times in human history, happiness was not something that one could expect to control. It was in the hands of the gods. It was dictated by fate or fortune and controlled by the stars. Consequently ordinary people could not count on making it for themselves. Happiness, literally, was what happened to one, and so to be happy was to be lucky. Even those who were lucky commonly expected a turn for the worse. In fact, in every European language, the root of the word for happiness is some older word that meant "luck". Most often the word happiness can be derived from the Old Norse and Old English word "hap", and hap simply means "luck."[13]

In medieval times, early Christians saw happiness as something a soul was to be rewarded with in heaven and not something attainable in the world of mortals. In the 13th century St. Thomas Aquinas shed light on the role of human effort in the process of happiness which he regarded as becoming closer to God. He stated that partial happiness could be achieved in this life via “the ‘theological virtues’ of charity, hope, and faith”.[14]

Then in the Renaissance, the definition and concept of happiness changed again and pleasure was equaled with happiness. The life question changed from ‘how to be saved’ to ‘how to be happy’. Already in 1776, by the time the American Declaration of Independence was written, the "pursuit of happiness" was declared an undeniable right, given by the creator. This was also the period in which the English philosopher and revolutionary John Locke declared that ‘the business of man is to be happy’. And it is also the period when Thomas Jefferson observes that “The pursuit of happiness is a self-evident truth.”

The first books and articles on happiness date back to the late 1800s. But the explicit concept and study of happiness appeared only in the 1940s, when the first surveys included questions related to happiness. However, only a few scientists studied happiness and related concepts at that time.

The first comprehensive review on the scientific research on “avowed happiness”, covering research mainly from the 1930s to the mid-1960s, appeared in Warner Wilson’s book on the correlates of avowed happiness in 1967.[15] However, this review had a limited impact on the field, despite the fact that it was published in Psychological Bulletin, one of the most prestigious journals in psychology. Most psychologists at the time still believed, that happiness was something that could not be scientifically investigated. Nevertheless, the antagonism against the scientific study of happiness decreased with the cognitive revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, and in 1966 the famous Harvard Grant Study, which tracked hundreds of Harvard’s graduates for decades, was initiated.[16]

In 1969, Bradburn wrote an influential book on emotional well-being by introducing the new measure of positive and negative affect and showing the relative independence of positive and negative affect.[17] Since then, the notion of subjective well-being (SWB) has often been used in research literature as a substitute for the term ‘happiness'. SWB encompasses how people evaluate their own lives in terms of cognitive and affective explanations, and can be represented in the following way: SWB = SATISFACTION WITH LIFE + AFFECT. The first, cognitive part of subjective well-being is expressed by life satisfaction. Life satisfaction can be seen as one's assessment of one's own life. One is said to be satisfied when there is little or no discrepancy between the present situation and what is thought to be an ideal or deserved situation. On the other hand, dissatisfaction is a result of a considerable discrepancy or of comparing oneself with others. Affect represents the emotional side of SWB. The notion of affect comprises both positive and negative moods and emotions that are associated with our daily experiences. The Bradburn Scale of psychological well-being, also known as the Affect Balance Scale, is made up of two components, the positive affect and the negative affect component, each having 5 items. The scale asks participants if, in the past few weeks, they have felt certain emotions. The participant answers ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to each question. The ‘no’ score is subtracted from the ‘yes‘ score to create a positive/negative affect difference score.

Several years later, in 1978, Philip Brickman and colleagues published a paper on hedonic adaptation, one of the most famous papers in the history of subjective well-being research. It reports the surprisingly small difference in self-reported happiness between paraplegics and lottery winners.[18] Then, in 1984, Ed Diener published a wide-ranging review on subjective well-being, summarizing most practical and conceptual issues up to the early 1980s in Psychological Bulletin and finally legitimized the study of happiness in psychological science.[19]

Since the late 1990s, positive psychology has been promoted, especially by Martin E. P. Seligman and Chris Peterson and their colleagues. Subjective well-being has been a major component of positive psychology, and the increasing visibility of positive psychology has also helped to expand the scope of subjective well-being and happiness research. “Happiness is love. Full stop”, said George Vaillant, who directed the Harvard Grant Study about the keys to happiness for more than 30 years.[20]

In contrast to research on happiness, there are no large-scale studies on success. This might be explained by the fact that success is far more difficult to define than happiness and that there are also no long-term studies about the definition of success. The word ‘success’ originally comes from the Latin successus which means ‘advance uphill’ and ‘happy issue’ and was first used in 1537. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines ‘success’ in two ways, as result/outcome, or as favorable result, attainment of wealth, favor or eminence.[21]

1.6 Measuring happiness and success on a global scale

It is important to stress that happiness is not a static state and that even the happiest people do have times when they experience negative emotions. And happiness is very subjective. What makes one person happy might not make another person happy. The way one person defines happiness might not be the way another person defines happiness. This causes problems for researchers trying to measure it scientifically, since objective measuring, for example by observing behavior patterns during controlled laboratory experiments, is not really possible. Due to the fact that no appropriate and uniform definition and thermometer of happiness exists, most researchers rely on self-reports, for example various self-report questionnaires.

The number of global measures of happiness is increasing, nevertheless there are three major happiness evaluation tools currently in use: the World Values Survey (WVS), the Gallup World Poll (GWP), and the European Social Survey (ESS) which focuses on European countries. The emphases of these surveys are responses to any combination of the following questions: “How happy are you now?”, “How happy were you yesterday?” and “How happy are you with your life as a whole these days?”[22]

The University of Michigan has collected data on the happiness in the world for more than 20 years in their World Values Surveys (WVS). The WVS measures the happiness of individuals by two different means. The first is to simply ask them how "happy" they are. The second is to ask them how "happy" they are, as well as how "satisfied" they are. The results are then combined to arrive at a measure of their "subjective well-being," a term generally considered synonymous with happiness as mentioned above. However, because of these two different ways of measuring happiness, uncertainty arises when it comes to determining which countries in the world are happiest. There is support for the validity of both measures. For example, former president of the American Psychological Association, Dr. Martin Seligman, uses the "happiness only" measure in his book Authentic Happiness.[23] In contrast, Dr. Ron Inglehart, founding president of World Values Surveys, considers the "subjective well-being" measure a more accurate indicator of personal happiness.[24]

According to the WVS results 2004, the world’s happiest countries were Nigeria, Mexico, Venezuela, El Salvador and Puerto Rico. When it comes to subjective well-being, results were slightly different as number one was Puerto Rico, second Mexico, third Denmark, forth Colombia and fifth Ireland. Nigeria made it to rank 19, El Salvador rank 12, Venezuela rank 13. China took rank 45, out of 79 examined countries. And according to the World Values Survey in 2007, Denmark was the planet’s happiest country.[25]

To gauge the relative happiness of residents in 148 countries in 2012, the Gallup organization called roughly 1,000 people in each country and asked about their experiences the day before. The poll was released in December 2012 and showed that people in seven developing Latin American nations are among the most likely to report happiness and feeling positive about life. At the top of the poll were Panama and Paraguay, with 85 % of the respondents reporting positive emotions. China, the United States, Chile, Sweden and Switzerland took the 33rd place.[26]

Looking at shorter-term bliss, Gallup also asked citizens to talk about their happiness at a specific point in time ("yesterday") rather than life as a whole. From this measurement, Ireland comes in as the happiest nation followed by Thailand, New Zealand, Canada and Iceland. The United States comes in sixth. The least happy countries based on feelings at a moment in time are Togo, Congo and Lithuania, Gallup found. When it comes to the trend of hope on economy, the Gallup barometer of Global hope and happiness showed that for the three year trend, China is the top 5 country in the world, with 32% of net hope on world economy.[27]

At the end of 2012, a Gallup poll of 37 countries declared China to be the 10th-happiest country in the world, but in April 2012 a United Nations report put China at 70th.[28]

Besides those three above mentioned measurements, one of the most widely used measurements is The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) which is a global cognitive assessment of life satisfaction designed by Dr. Ed Diener and colleagues in 1985. The SWLS requires a person to use a seven-item scale to state her agreement or disagreement (1 = strongly disagree, 4 = neither agree nor disagree, 7 = strongly agree) with five statements about one's life.[29]

The Gross National Happiness Index, proposed in 1972 by Bhutan's former king, Jigme Singye Wangchuk, has been praised and criticized. At that time most countries used the Gross Domestic Product to measure a country's economic success, which was equated with personal well-being and implied happiness. In spite of this Wangchuk thought that social and environmental factors, among others, should be measured as well. He assumed that happiness would be a goal of all people and that it should be the government's responsibility to ensure that a country's conditions are such that a person living there can attain happiness. Until 1999 Gross National Happiness (GNH) was mainly an idea that was practiced in Bhutan. In 1999 however, the Center for Bhutan studies was established and began to spread the idea internationally. In 2004, Bhutan held an international seminar on GNH and since then the use of GNH in combination with GDP to measure a nation's social and economic progress has increased internationally in recent years. However, measuring the Gross National Happiness Index is a complex process as it includes 33 indicators that come from nine different fields like health, education, living standard, community vitality and psychological well-being, which are all equally weighted.

The GNH has received a lot of criticism, for example that its indicators are relatively subjective. Critics claim that because of the subjectivity of those indicators it would be too difficult to get an accurate quantitative measurement on happiness. They also say that due to the subjectivity, governments may be able to change GNH results in a way that best suits their interests.[30] China, like many other developed nations, ranks relatively low on the Forbes' gross national happiness (GNH) index, though its GDP is now the second largest in the world.[31] This however is due its low scores on environmental quality and not necessarily due to psychological well-being.

Another index frequently used to measure happiness is the ‘Happy Planet Index’ (HPI), introduced in 2006, which includes 178 countries in its surveys. However, the name of this index might be misleading and the HPI actually cannot be used as a true happiness measure, as it does not understand itself as such. The HPI measures the extent to which countries deliver long, happy, sustainable lives for the people that live in them. The Index uses global data on life expectancy, experienced well-being and Ecological Footprint to calculate this. Much criticism of the index has been due to commentators falsely understanding it to be a measure of happiness, when it is in fact a measure of the ecological efficiency of supporting well-being.[32]

As shown above, the results of happiness research and related rankings of countries into a global hierarchy of happiness are difficult to compare due to different standards of measuring and data compilation. Additionally, SWB values might change depending on the type of scales used, the order of items, the time frame of the questions, and current mood at the time of measurement and other situational factors.

Because global self-report measures may be subject to distortions, including traditional artifacts such as impression management, researchers should assess the impact of these artifacts when possible. Other problems include sampling methods and sample sizes. The World Value Survey in 2007 took for example, 1003 samples in Andorra, a country with a tiny population, but only 1959 samples in China, a country with a population of 1,35 billion people.

Measuring success

While many indices exist to measure happiness, there is no ‘official’ measure for success of people in different countries worldwide. This might be due to the fact, that there is no single, globally accepted definition of success and the perception of success is diverse: professional standing, educational accomplishments, athletic achievement, celebrity status, humanitarian impact, political clout, financial freedom, personal fulfillment, etc.

Few countries have a ‘national notion’ of success, one is Singapore. In Singapore, success is measured by the 5 Cs, a Singaporean acronym for the symbols of material success: car, cash, credit card, and condominium and club membership. In Hong Kong property is the measure of success and makes or breaks a person's fortune – and often happiness.

But there are many examples where it is very questionable if success can be measured in such ways:

Steve Jobs: He dropped out of college after one semester and returned soda bottles for money to buy food. Later on he got fired from a company he helped to found, but, by Forbes estimates, he was worth 8.3 billion USD at the time of his death.

Thomas Edison: He spent a total of three months in public school before being found to be ‘unsuitable for public school’. Thomas Edison was home schooled, never attended college, bounced from one job to another, often being fired.However at the time of his death in 1931 held more than 1,093 patents and had founded four companies including General Electric, which is still in existence today.

Mother Teresa: She never went to medical school, never married and never had children. At some points in her life she begged for food and yet she won a Nobel Peace Prize and established 610 Missions in 123 countries before her death in 1997.

Surprisingly or not, according to the June 2013 Monitor on Psychology, ‘Subjective well-being' measures gain international weight as measures of success![33]

2. Success and happiness in China

2.1 Chinese views on happiness and success and their relationship to food

Confucius said: ‘They must often change, who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.’[34]

In China things are changing fast and only the ‘love’ for good food does not. Food and cooking traditionally played a big role in Chinese society, following the ancient teaching that 'food is heaven for people’. Some of the most frequently used words in China are food, eating and success! No wonder, as in China business has long been conducted over banquet tables and every Chinese friend will tell foreigners that no meeting or social gathering is considered complete without a good meal.

The philosopher and writer Lin Yutang[35] wrote about 100 years ago:

‘How a Chinese spirit glows over a good feast! How apt is he to cry out that life is beautiful when his stomach and his intestines are well filled! From this well filled stomach suffuses and radiates a happiness that is spiritual. The Chinese relies upon instinct and his instinct tells him that when the stomach is right, everything is right’.[36]

Food has been and remains an instrument to successful relationships between people at all levels in China. Food is often regarded as a living metaphor that implies power and responsibility over others. About 100 years ago, the Chinese government called the job of the chief executive “making adjustments to the tripods”; a tripod in Chinese refers to a cooking utensil. This term entails adjusting the flavors of the dishes being cooked in order to please customers' tastes. And just like a capable diplomat, the talented cook uses talent and technical skills.

Clever cooks who created outstanding food have had unusual access to power and success throughout Chinese history, for example Yi Yin, who had been a famous cook and slave known as Ah Yeng. He cooked for Emperor Tang, ruler of the Shang Dynasty from 1600 BC till 1100 BC, who became persuaded of Yi's diplomatic and social abilities after eating his dishes. Yi Yin became China's first prime minister and eventually assisted Emperor Tang to destroy Jie, the last ruler of the Xia Dynasty from 2100 BC to 1600 BC.

2.2 History of Chinese happiness and success research

The occupation with happiness in China has a long history and tradition, reaching more than 2300 years back to the Warring States Period from 475 to 221 BC. During that time a man named Mencius laid unprecedented emphasis on human nature and the role of the mind in the quest for happiness.[37] He was born about 190 years after Confucius during the same era as the Daoist philosopher Zhuangzi and the Greek philosopher Plato. Mencius and Confucius shared many characteristics as they were both born in the area of modern Shandong Province, were teachers by profession and they had traveled extensively to provide philosophical and political counsel to various rulers during a very politically tense period. Confucian philosophy is wordy and has been the most powerful influence shaping the Chinese culture and the conceptions of Chinese people for more than 2000 years. According to Confucius’ observations and teachings, happiness could be achieved through knowledge, benevolence and harmony of the group. Mencius has been called by some Chinese scholars the pioneer of positive psychology, because The Book of Mencius provides lengthy debates on happiness, in which he claims that within people lie the ‘sprouts of virtue’, and if people nourish these ‘sprouts’ of identification and sympathy and extend such feelings to broader social and political relationships, they would be filled with a flourishing sense of irrepressible and enthralling joy. Mencius believed that a person had a “lesser self”, the physiological self, and a “greater self”, the moral self, and he was convinced that the mind played a mediating role between those two. Personal fulfillment and happiness would come from getting the priorities right between these two.[38]

Another early piece of work in history devoted to happiness is said to be from Zhuangzi, a Chinese philosopher, who was born about 2,300 years ago. He wrote an essay with the title “Ultimate Happiness,” which is now a chapter of the book named Zhuangzi, after the author. One of his most famous thoughts might be the following: “Instead of running around pointing fingers, why not laugh? Better than laughing why not go along with things? Then you can experience the mysterious oneness of the ‘Dao’. Whereas Confucius placed emphasis on human relationships, Mencius on rationality, Zhuangzhi, and Daoists in general, rejoice in nature, and particularly the mysterious ‘Dao’, which is manifested through our natural surroundings. For Mencius, Buddha and Aristotle, the role of the mind is critical in the quest for happiness. Zhuangzhi and other Daoists, on the other hand, argue that thinking too much is not desirable as it would lead us away from the intuitive Dao. For Zhuangzi, ultimate happiness is wuwei, the skill of doing nothing against the ‘Dao’, which can be translated as “way”. “Dao”, is the source of a much deeper form of happiness, which only needs to be harnessed, as we are in the midst of nature and therefore part of the Dao itself. This is done through the practice of wuwei, which is the skill of “going along with things” (see chapter 4.2)[39]

But despite this long history of Chinese occupation with happiness, research studies on Chinese happiness are not sufficient in terms of extent and depth. The first studies on happiness reach back to 2006 and most recent studies on happiness in China are based on the data collected by academic institutions, for example the China Social Sciences Academy, which are in general not available to the public. Also, their validation is often hard to assess. Relevant literature can be summarized as either theoretical studies or empirical analysis. Theoretical studies include Guangqiang Tian and Liyan Yang’s attempt to introduce the mainstream economic approaches into happiness research. By constructing a standard theoretical model, they demonstrated the existence of a critical income level. Empirical analysis began to appear in recent years, mostly after 2006, and the number is still very small, including Chuliang Luo’s study from 2006, who used data from China’s Social Sciences Academy to detect the subjective well-being in urban and rural residents, and Daiyan Peng and Baoxin Wu’s study in 2008 about the relationship between income gap and farmers life satisfaction in rural Hebei and Hubei provinces.

2.3 Chinese research results on happiness and China’s global rankings

2.3.1 Chinese definitions of happiness

On Chinese TV, one can find an increasing number of TV series and shows about ‘happiness’, whether it be ‘Tears of happiness’, ‘Sunny Happiness’ or a recent CCTV program, which asked countless people from all over China whether or not they felt happy in today's society. The show sparked much debate within China, as many people claimed that happiness is a subjective feeling which cannot be accurately assessed by respondents in front of a television camera. However, the program has led to the fact that the question, how to define happiness, got into the consciousness of many Chinese.

No wonder that ‘what does happiness mean to you?’ has become a popular question in oral English classes. English teachers in high schools encourage students to think about happiness, but viewed as an emotion. When they are asked ‘what is happiness?’ students get choices to answer the question with adjectives like ‘joyful, positive, comfortable or even sweet’. School books provide answers on what should make students happy in the form of pictures of people eating Chinese food, spending time with relatives, singing karaoke or climbing a mountain. Some teachers go further and let students discuss how they can become happy and how to understand this as a function of their own ability to increase their ‘capacity for enjoyment’. ‘The more we can enjoy what we have, the happier we are’, said one teacher, as a 18 year old student mentioned that he cannot be happy, because he has no car, apartment or money on his bank account.

The word ‘happiness’ did not appear in the Chinese language until recently; instead, the word ‘fu’ was used, which is perhaps the closest equivalent of happiness in ancient Chinese writings. However, its definition, which is very vague, usually means ‘anything positive and good in life’. In ancient times, longevity, prosperity, health, peace, virtue and a comfortable death were among the most aspired to values and achievements in life. Thus, the traditional Chinese conception of happiness roughly includes material abundance, physical health, a virtuous and peaceful life, and relief of anxiety about death. Nowadays, happiness in Chinese dictionaries is translated as “xingfu”; “xing” means “fortunate” and “fu” (福) means “fortunate, lucky, smooth and free of obstacles”. This shows that the Chinese notion of happiness is based on luck and fortune.

Recently happiness has become a political issue too and former Premier Wen Jiabao defined happiness as: "people live comfortably, feel relieved and safe, and have confidence in the future."[40] Other Chinese politicians followed this definition, which is passed on to the general population in TV shows, TV series, internet articles and other mass advertisements.

Consequently great interest aroused the question, what the general public would answer in private surveys. A survey conducted in 2013 amongst 200 Chinese private high school students with an average age of 15 years, using questionnaires, distributed by systematic sampling, showed that only 5 % had no idea how to define happiness. About 25 % defined happiness as a feeling, for 20 % happiness meant to stay with family, friends or lovers and to get support from them. Another 15 % defined it as freedom to do whatever one wants to do, and 11 % equaled happiness with contentment and satisfaction. For 5 % happiness was defined as access to good food and rest, around 2 % defined happiness as ‘no sadness’, 2 % as ‘playing computer games’, and for 8 % it was equaled with health, security, money, success and good marks.

A survey conducted in 2013 in a private company amongst 100 Chinese middle position employees with an average age of 35 years, using questionnaires, distributed by systematic sampling, showed that 25 % defined happiness as ‘being in good health’! Another 20 % defined happiness as ‘having freedom and peace with the world and oneself’, 15 % defined happiness as ‘having good relationships between family members’. 10 % defined it as ‘having one’s wants satisfied’. 5 % had no idea about the definition and were looking for happiness, 5 % thought good income would equal happiness, and 5 % defined happiness as ‘making best use of one’s talents’.

2.3.2 Happiness research results in China

Happiness surveys in China show a wide range of results.

The "2005 Social Blue Book", a data compilation about a range of topics on social issues in China, published the "2004 Chinese residents’ quality of life report". According to the survey, nearly 80 % of Chinese residents felt happy.[41]

An official survey conducted in 2010 by a research group of the Financial and Economic Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress across 24 Chinese cities and published in ‘China Daily’, concluded that more than 74 % of Chinese urban residents felt either "very happy" or "fairly happy", with the elderly people happier than the young, women happier than men and public servants happier than the rest.

In January 2011, the happiness survey results from China Central Television (CCTV) were released. About 45 % of more than 80,000 respondents said that their lives are happy or very happy, while about 11 % reported not to be happy. The survey has been conducted for four consecutive years. Respondents were selected from 104 cities and 300 counties of 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. Although respondents were from all age groups, educational backgrounds and income levels, most, 78 %, of the respondents were urban residents.[42]

A survey report published in May 2011 by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, based on a survey of 4800 people, found that more than 74 % were happy or very happy. In 2011 the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences published ‘The Chinese Cities' 2011 Competition Power Blue Paper’ which covered 294 cities. The survey showed an average score of 76.06 out of 100 in terms of the residents' sense of happiness, which has gradually increased over the past decade: the score for 2001, 2005, 2009 and 2010 is 69.40, 70.52, 73.55 and 76.06.[43]

The 2010 Pew Global Attitudes survey found that 87 % of Chinese people surveyed were satisfied with their life, making it the most satisfied country by far out of all the surveyed countries. This result seems to be supported by the result of a recent well-liked TV show called ‘Are You Happy?’ It is produced by the national broadcast network, which interviewed more than 3,500 people, from garbage collectors to factory workers to Mo Yan, the Chinese winner of the 1.2 million USD Nobel Prize in Literature. The producers claim that more than 90 % of the respondents said they were "happy", although only a very small percentage of the interviews were actually telecast.[44]

According to a survey in 2013 amongst 200 private high school students with an average age of 15 about their happiness levels on a scale from 1 to 10, about one third chose 10, no student chose a happiness level below 5, and the average score was 7.98! When asked, what would make them most happy, 15 % answered that eating would be on the top, 20 % replied that staying with friends would make them most happy, about 20 % of respondents replied to be most happy when having time for their hobbies and 15 % answered to be most happy when getting good grades and having no homework. 10 % chose playing computer games, 10 % staying with family and being supported by one’s family, and 8% had no idea what would make them most happy. 80 % replied that at least sometimes food would make them happy, foremost sweets, cakes and ice-cream.

According to a survey in 2013 in a Chinese private company amongst 100 middle position employees with an average age of 35, the average happiness level score was 7.72 on a scale from 1 to 10. Only 8 % of respondents had happiness levels of below 5. About 10 % of respondents were most happy when eating and having big dinners with their family, 10 % were most happy when spending spare time with family, 15 % when spending spare time with friends, 10 % when seeing children happy and 10 % when they got higher income. 5 % of respondents had no idea. However, results have shown that most respondents related their happiness levels to those of family members and more than 80 % replied that ‘good’ food would increase their happiness levels.

It can be seen that results of Chinese happiness research vary a lot; reasons could be the differences in sample sizes and sample groups. Often the focus of Chinese happiness research is on urban residents. Consequently, results might not be completely bias-free, because happiness levels might differ between rural and urban residents, as incomes and living standards in rural areas are lower than in urban areas.

Nevertheless, one of the 10 happiest places on earth is in China, which is Wuyi Mountain, in Fujian Province. Around Wuyi Mountain is ‘Tian XingYong Le’, the Ever-Happy Temple, and the mountain is surrounded by a realm of secret valleys splashed with waterfalls and pocked with mysterious caves.[45]

2.3.3 Chinese definition of success

In China by tradition, success of men was measured by the number of mistresses he had. Nowadays fancy cars, luxury homes, expensive branded watches, clothes and golf equipment have replaced mistresses as measurement of success. For the Chinese government, the traditional measure of success was the GDP. According to the current Chinese premier Xi, GDP is not any longer the measure of success in China, but the happiness of Chinese people.[46]

A survey amongst 200 private high school students in South China showed that about 25 % of respondents equaled success with money, 25 % with achieving goals and improving oneself. For 15 %, success meant realizing ones’ dreams, and for 7 % it meant doing what one wants to do. Some respondents’ answers included: ‘having a positive effect on others’, ‘not regretting anything’, ‘trying to reach something without sacrifices’. For about 8 % success meant ‘being happy all life’. Roughly 15% had no idea how to define success.

A survey in a Chinese private company amongst 100 middle position employees with an average age of 35 showed that 25 % equaled success with setting goals and achieving them. For 25 % it meant making best use of one’s potential. 15% defined success as ‘being happy’ or ‘family happiness’. Only 5 % equaled it with money, 5 % had no idea how to define it and 3 % thought of it as freedom to do whatever one wants to do. The remaining respondents defined success as feeling, transcending limitations and showing value to society.

Table 1: Examples of Chinese success definitions in different areas

2.3.4 Success research results in China

A report in 2012 from the Pew Global Attitudes project about inequality was headed with ‘Despite Success, Many See Problems’. According to the report 70% of Chinese said that they would be better off financially than they were five years ago. Furthermore, 92% of Chinese reported that their standard of living would be better than their parents’ at a similar age. However, whilst 62 % of higher-income Chinese believed that most people could be successful if they work hard, only 45 % of middle- and 44 % of lower-income respondents were of the same opinion.[47]

2.4 Chinese policies to achieve national happiness

On March 4, 2010 former Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao announced the goal of "happiness for the people” in his Government Work Report to the opening of the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC). This goal is also written into the national 12th Five-year Plan for Social and Economic Development from 2011 to 2015, as a signal of change in China’s development strategy. In an online chat, former Premier Wen Jiabao announced that Beijing would adopt the "happiness of the people" as a new yardstick to measure the performance of officials instead of the 30-year-old yardstick of GDP growth.[48] Some say that the concept of happiness in China is a natural upshot of the Communist Party’s propaganda about creating a ‘harmonious society’, since happiness is a subject that is consistent with harmony. Others say that the Chinese government is focusing on happiness because of rising prices, unemployment and other economic afflictions which might lead to dissatisfaction of Chinese people with its government. So it was no surprise that in August 2010 the first conference on positive psychology in China was held at Beijing's Qinghua University. Psychologists discussed how to build a happier China and how to encourage positive education in China.[49]

Especially since 2010, local, provincial and regional leaders from Beijing to Ningxia, have been setting up "happiness indices" and tailoring programs, projects and policies to increase people's satisfaction with their lives, as well as, of course, with the government. For example, Beijing created a happiness index, which will assess the city's performance using five important indicators. These include access to medical care, improved housing conditions, quality of the environment, employment opportunities and public security.[50] Beijing’s local propaganda authorities aired a seven-episode television series in August 2012 offering advice to those who were unhappy with help of a professor with a psychology degree from Harvard University, who instructed people on how to find their inner peace, rather than find fault with the government. And Haidian, a suburban district in Beijing, started 127 projects over the course of 2013 to improve its people's happiness index of life by working on issues related to safety, environment, culture, urban civilization and credit system. The greatest percentage of projects focuses on boosting the urban environment, including the maintenance of public facilities, garbage treatment and pollution prevention as well as and control of industrial enterprises.[51]

The former party secretary of Guangdong province, Wang Yang, became perhaps the most prominent proponent of the public satisfaction and happiness drive in 2011 when he outlined his proposal for a "Happy Guangdong" province. He allocated 423 billion RMB, the equivalent of 70 million USD for projects to improve people's livelihood and attempted to reduce the province's gross domestic product growth from 12.5 % to 8 %. To measure his success, Wang set up an index of individual economic indicators, including employment, income, education, health care, crime, housing, infrastructure and social security.

Additional to setting up indices and airing TV series about happiness, rewards for local governments for promoting happiness growth were introduced, for example the ‘China Local Government Innovation Award’. One of the first awards went to Jiangyin city in Jiangsu province in East China. Jiangyin city had one of the earliest happiness drives and the local government set up its happiness index as early as 2007. Instead of just aiming for economic growth, Jiangyin has come up with a range of constituents it believes add up to happiness. Those include health care (there should be 26 doctors per 1,000 people), employment, donation to charity (residents should donate more than 7.35 USD each year) and political participation, without changing the fundamental system. Jiangyin seems to be successful – and happy: salary growth of 48 % for urban residents in just four years and a 2 percent drop in rural unemployment to just 2.9 %. Also, within three years after the start of its happiness project, Jiangyin officials found that 95.87 % of its residents felt happy.[52] However it has to be mentioned that Jiangyin is one of the richest places in China and consequently is it hard to say if Jiangyin is a Potemkin village for show or if this is a project that should be taken as an outlook on what China might look like in the future.

3 Introduction into the Chinese cuisine

3.1 History of Chinese cooking and cuisine and latest trends

One important aspect of the Chinese food culture is the importance of food itself. Globally there are only few other cultures that are as food oriented as the Chinese, and this orientation might be as ancient as Chinese culture itself. According to Lun Yu in the Confucian Analects, chapter "Wei Ling Kung", when the duke Ling of Wei asked Confucius about military tactics, Confucius replied that he would have heard about matters pertaining to a meat stand and meat platter, but not learned military matters.

Cooking has taken a significant position in Chinese culture throughout its history as cooking is considered to be an art and a science. Eating was also a matter taken very seriously. In the ‘Book of etiquette and ceremonies’ food cannot be separated from ritual and in texts from the Book of rites, one can find that from 221 BC to the 12th century BC references were made of the use of the ding cauldron, a cooking vessel, as the prime symbol of the state.

In ancient times, the five most basic foods were called the ‘five grains’, namely sesame, legumes, wheat, panicle millet, and glutinous millet. Already 700 BC in the Spring and Autumn Period, Chinese cuisine began to be separated as Southern and Northern cuisines. Southern cuisine was characterized by the dishes’ freshness and tenderness with lighter flavors. Northern cuisine, due to its colder climate, was heavier and with stronger flavor, because of the heavy use of garlic. Confucius, who lived between 551 and 479 BC, is the first known to have developed codes of conduct for cutting, cooking, and eating.

During the Han Dynasty from 202 BC to 220 AD, wheat, barley, rice, foxtail millet, proso millet and beans were the most frequently consumed staple foods. Chinese diet was enriched by a variety of fruits and vegetables like chestnuts, pears, plums, peaches, melons, apricots, red bayberries, jujubes, calabash, bamboo shoots, mustard plant and taro. Domesticated chickens, Mandarin ducks, geese, cows, sheep were commonly eaten in North and West China. In South and East China, pigs, dogs as well as turtles and fish, taken from streams and lakes, were popular. Depending on the geographical region, game like owl, pheasant, magpie, sika deer, and Chinese bamboo partridge were eaten.

During the Three Kingdom, Jin and Southern and Northern States period, starting from roughly 260 AD, China traded with the Philippines, Indonesia, Mozambique and Tanzania, which brought a greater variety of fruits to China, especially citrus fruits.

In the Sui dynasty, from 605 to 610 AD, Emperor Yang Di was the first worldwide to build a contour canal, called the 'Grand Canal,' to connect waterways of nearly 1800 km from Hangzhou to Beijing, to supply his troops on the move with food. Consequently, this was the time when ingredients and ways of food preparation variations moved. Rice moved to the north, and wheat and millet to the south.

During the Tang dynasty from 618 to 907 AD, Chinese diet was greatly enriched and included turnips, soy beans, apples, rhubarb, hazelnuts, pine nuts, chestnuts, walnuts. In South China pork was preferred, in East China Chicken, in North China lamb and Bactrian camel in the West. In the south along the coast meat from seafood and fish, including sea otter was by default the most common. Known dishes included cooked jellyfish with cinnamon, Sichuan pepper, cardamom and ginger, as well as oysters with wine, fried squid with ginger and vinegar, horseshoe crabs and red crabs, shrimps, and puffer fish. Beef was not on the Chinese menu as the bull was an important animal for farming. From 831 to 833 AD Emperor Wenzong banned the slaughter of cattle on the grounds of his religious convictions to Buddhism. Overseas and overland trade increased the variety of foods further, examples include date palms, pistachios, and figs from Persia, pine seeds and ginseng roots from Korea, and mangoes from Southeast Asia.

It has to be noted that during the Tang and the Song dynasties from 960 to 1279 AD, nutritional medical value of mushrooms, herbs and vegetables, reached tremendous importance. At this time "medicinal food" for prevention and cure of diseases, for overall health became significant. Besides wine, rice wine for common Chinese and grape wine for upper classes, pear juice, lychee fruit juice, honey and ginger drinks, tea, and pawpaw juice gained increasing popularity. The main foods of the lower classes in the South China remained rice, pork, and salted fish. The upper classes are known to have consumed an selection of different meats like chicken, shellfish, fallow deer, hares, partridge, pheasant, francolin, quail, fox, badger, clam, crab, and many others. The most widely eaten fruits for the wealthy Chinese were melons, pomegranates, lychees, longans, golden oranges, jujubes, quinces, apricots and pears. In the Song period the cuisine developed greatly as many ‘specialty dishes’, often using a certain combination of ingredients, were introduced, which included scented shellfish cooked in rice-wine, geese with apricots, lotus-seed soup, pimento soup with mussels and fish cooked with plums, sweet soya soup, baked sesame buns stuffed with pork or vegetables, candied fruit, strips of ginger and fermented bean paste, jujube-stuffed steamed dumplings, fried chestnuts, and salted fermented bean soup. Sweets were well-known, for example fruits cooked in scented honey and 'honey crisps', which consisted of kneaded and baked honey, flour, mutton fat and pork lard.

In the course of the Song Dynasty from 960 to 1279 AD, rice had become the major staple crop of the poor in the whole country. Around 1125 AD Mongolian influences brought northern foods and food preparation techniques like grilling and hot pot cookery southward.

In the Yuan Dynasty from 1279 to 1368 AD China had established manifold contacts with the West and trade brought sorghum along with other foreign food products and methods of preparation to China. Popular dishes included grilled goose and pig head. As a consequence of the increased contact to foreign cultures, the way of food preparation for some dishes changed over time, as did the way bowls were washed and food was stored.[53]

Throughout the Ming dynasty from 1368 to 1643 AD, Emperor Hung Mu, as well as other rulers of the Ming Dynasty, moved several thousand people westward to resettle unpopulated areas. This led to the movement of food westward, especially from 1386 to 1398 AD. Some years later, trade with the Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, English, and French lead to the adoption, adaption and incorporation of foreign food and its spread from South to North/East/West China. One example is the sweet potato, originally not indigenous to China, which entered ports in South China at the end of the 15th century. Since then it has made its way to every region of China as a common winter food. Another example is the hot pepper, which was introduced into China from South America around the end of the 17th century and which is now a favored food flavoring in Sichuan province.

At some stage in the Qing Dynasty from 1644 to 1911, the four major cuisines of China were defined for the first time, corresponding to the four busiest business hubs at that time: Cantonese, Sichuan, Fujian and Jiangsu. With improvements of communication and transportation lines, the four gradually became eight with the addition of Hunan, Shandong, Zhejiang and Anhui regional styles (see 3.4). The importance of cooking and eating in the Qing dynasty has to be highlighted and culinary arts were treated as a part of the life of the mind.

From 1911, since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, there were a series of major food supply problems under the Communist Party of China, leading to frequent starvation and subsequently there was little to no advancement or change in the culinary tradition.

From 1949 to the beginning of the ‘Open-Door’ policy in 1978 and the economic reforms in the early 1980s, people were concerned with simply filling their stomachs. Many types of food like meat were rationed and rare occasions such as the Spring Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival were the only times to feast.

The late 1980s and early 1990s saw the rise of regional cuisines in mega-cities, especially Cantonese and Sichuan cuisines due to the fact that internal migration laws were slightly relaxed. The Cantonese restaurants represented the high-end dining market, while the Sichuan eateries catered with cheaper and simpler dishes to the general public. Intra-provincial Diasporas also changed eating habits as migrant workers from all parts of China brought their regional favorites to Beijing and other Chinese mega-cities like Shanghai and Guangzhou.

As more foreigners started to visit China after the introduction of the ‘Open-door’ policy, the economy developed quickly, and the development of Chinese restaurants advanced fast. Some of the most famous chefs also went abroad and adopted "foreign" ingredients like cheese, seasoning and even Western presentation. By the 1990s, the restaurant industry had grown to a noticeable scale, especially in the mega-cities. Different regional and even different ethnic cuisines as well as exotic ingredients became increasingly popular. New regional influences, coming from other Asian countries like South Korea and Vietnam, as well as creative fusion, mingling diverse ingredients and cooking methods have also brought changes to the culinary traditions in China.

The 1990s brought some interesting trends to Chinese cuisine, especially in Beijing, where in the so-called Cultural Revolution cuisine has been popular as well as the Retro-Maoist cuisine, which benefited from the 100th anniversary of Mao Zedong's birthday, favoring dishes like cornmeal cakes and rice gruel.

Since 2000 Chinese cuisine changed a lot. Ten years ago, many Beijing residents would have eaten a platter of braised and fried intestines or a famous Shandong specialty, the "nine-twist" pork chitterlings, without hesitation. Ten years ago many Guangzhou residents would have ordered abalone, bird’s nest and soft-shell turtle. But nowadays most of them think twice before ordering. An increasing number of Chinese are concerned about their health and time for cooking or waiting, as well as the environment and decreasing numbers of rare species and many Chinese dishes that were once popular are declining or disappearing. One example is furong jipian, a custard made of finely minced chicken breast and egg that is so delicately made that hardly anyone can tell that there is meat in it. As a consequence of the increasing awareness of health issues, more and more Chinese are opting for green, environmentally friendly and healthy food, that means less oil, less salt and no monosodium glutamate. Restaurants these days rarely serve game and traditional banquet specialties such as sharks fin and abalone are increasingly being substituted by more tolerable, less endangered options. Organic vegetables, sustainable seafood and free-range poultry are increasingly available.

Most recently documentaries on the history of food, eating and cooking in China are getting very popular. One example is ‘A Bite of China’, which first appeared at the China Central Television on May 14th, 2012, which introduced within seven episodes the history and story behind foods of various kinds in more than 60 locations all around China.[54]

3.2 Main cooking tools and ingredients in the Chinese cuisine

3.2.1 Main cooking tools in a Chinese kitchen

The most important cooking equipment in China is the wok. The reason being, that the tall thinner walls of the wok provide the quick intense heat necessary for frying and the round bottom shape keeps the ingredients at the center where the heat is higher. Also it is much easier to toss and turn the food without it falling all over the place. Using a wok can minimize the amounts of oil needed for frying. Since frying is one of the most popular and commonly used cooking method the wok is the most popular cooking tool. A carbon steel wok would be one of the best choices available, as they heat up quickly and evenly and will last a long time. Long handles are usually better than shorter ones, since they make it easier to move, toss, and tilt when stir-frying. The size of the wok depends on personal needs, especially on the quantities of food one plans to cook.

Besides a wok, Chinese like to use choppers, cleavers and preferably wooden chopping boards. Chinese choppers are quite big but they are extremely useful for cutting, dicing, slicing, and shredding, anything from vegetables to meats. The wide blade can also be used to carry the ingredients from the chopping board to the wok or cooking pot. Cleavers have even thicker blades than choppers and they are heavier and can handle tasks like chopping through bones, which is quite essential for Chinese cooking, since Chinese prefer meat with bones, sliced into pieces. Most Chinese use a solid wooden chopping board to avoid a slippery surface.

Furthermore, Chinese spatulas are frequently used for cooking and scooping in a hot wok, since they allow tossing all the ingredients quickly and efficiently. Frying spoons are great for lifting items from oil, for example a whole fish or chicken pieces. They are also used frequently for straining or skimming, lifting/boiling dumplings or wontons. For stir frying, beating eggs, stirring noodles and mixing ingredients Chinese use chopsticks.

Many Chinese households do have a lot of other tools and equipments, for example a bamboo steamer for steaming Chinese dumplings, a soymilk maker and a juicer. But for the recipes in chapter 5, these are generally not necessary.

3.2.2 Ingredients in the Chinese cuisine

An old Chinese saying goes: "In every house that respects itself, there have to be seven things: fire, oil, soy sauce, vinegar, rice, salt and tea." Chinese nowadays have a far longer list, however, ginger, garlic and scallions/spring onions are the most commonly added ones, combined to make a total of ten items.

Chinese sauces and condiments

Most widely used is light and dark soy sauce. The dark sauce is used for cooking and season meats. The light soy sauce can be served on the table for dipping spring rolls or dim sum. The brown sauce, although made from oysters, doesn't have a strong fishy taste but is rather mild and used for cooking meats and vegetables and is very popular in Cantonese dishes. There is also a "vegetarian" version made with mushrooms.

Also popular is sesame oil, which is a dark, aromatic and very flavorful ingredient. There are several kinds, the one used for Chinese cooking is usually heavier and darker and it is not used for frying but rather as a marinade, sprinkled at the end just for flavor, or added to dipping sauces.

Chili oil is as popular and made from chili peppers. It is used for dipping and stir-frying but it can be served on the table to sprinkle over food as desired. Made from chili peppers and soybeans, it's a staple in Sichuan and Hunan spicy dishes. Fragrant when cooked, a tiny bit goes a long way.

Very popular for its strong smoky flavor, dark rice vinegar is made of glutinous rice and can be added to soups, dipping sauces and braised dishes.

When deep-fried foods are served and dipped, sweet and sour sauce/plum sauce is used. It is made of plums, sometimes also peaches, and vinegar, ginger and chilies.

Hoisin sauce is a popular sauce for dipping and stir-frying, sometimes added to stews and other dishes. It is based on soy, garlic and vinegar.

One of the most popular condiments is garlic, which has been used in China for over 5,000 years. Not only in the kitchen but also in Chinese Traditional Medicine as it is considered to have medicinal properties. You will find that garlic is used throughout Chinese cooking; one of the most common uses is with stir-fries.

Ginger along with garlic, is the most common Chinese food ingredient used for flavoring. Ginger is popular with Cantonese dishes as well as the more spicy Sichuan recipes. Besides fresh ginger, you can also find it ground and pickled or sweet as ginger candy.

Green onions or spring onions are used liberally either cooked to add flavor or raw as garnishing on top of meat or fish dishes.

Fresh chilies are added, chopped, sliced, crushed or whole, for an extra zing on vegetable or meat dishes. There are many kinds of chilies, some are hotter than others. They can also be found dried and are just as hot.

Chinese parsley is a very popular herb with a strong flavor, also known as Coriander. It is popular in Chinese cooking with sauces, soups, dim sums and as garnish.

Chinese vegetables

Most Chinese choose seasonal vegetables when cooking. In summer, vegetables with ‘cooling’ character are chosen, for example winter melon, cucumber and radishes.

In winter, ‘warming’ vegetables like pumpkin are preferred.

Generally, the vegetables below are used throughout the year.

Very popular is Chinese mustard, which has meaty white stems with dark green leaves. There is also Baby Bok Choy, with both stems and leaves a lighter green color. It is used in soups, stir-fried with noodles and steamed.

In combination with meat dishes, Chinese eggplant is popular, which is the same as regular eggplant but long and skinny. It is also commonly used in stir-fries or steamed. If you can't find the long and skinny kind, regular eggplant can be used.

Chinese cabbage is one of the most popular vegetable. It is a leafy vegetable also known as snow cabbage, is very common and can be found at the supermarket. Great stir-fried with your choice of sauce and condiment, in salads or pickled.

For stir-fries with garlic, Gai Lan or Chinese broccoli is chosen, a green leafy vegetable from the kale and broccoli family. The taste is similar to broccoli, perhaps a bit sweeter.

Soy bean sprouts are another common vegetable in Chinese cooking; soy bean sprouts are most common in stir-fried dishes.

Chinese dried mushrooms have a slightly stronger flavor and they need to be soaked in warm water for at least half an hour to soften them before use, for example in chicken dishes.

Bamboo shoots or corn kernels are popular as add on to stir-fries.

Pumpkins, tomatoes and carrots are also used frequently

Other staples in a Chinese household

Chinese Sausages are amongst the most frequently met staples. They are made of pork and have a smoky, sweet taste. Most Chinese add them to fried noodles or rice.

Spring Roll Wrappers used in Chinese cooking are normally made of wheat flour and water. Roll-in your filling, deep-fry them and serve with your favorite sauce.

Bean Curd or Tofu made from soymilk is eaten on a nearly daily basis and resembles the consistency of cheesecake. It is served in soups, stir-fried dishes or desserts.

Egg or wheat Noodles are a basic of Chinese staples, especially as North/West- Chinese love noodles. Wheat noodles are generally used in soups, wheat and egg noodles can be stir-fried.

Rice noodles or vermicelli, usually thin and transparent, are soaked in hot water to soften them before use. They are often used in soups, salads, stir-fries and spring rolls.

Rice is mostly at the core of every Chinese meal, except for banquets or other special occasions.

Chinese Tea, which is more than a beverage. For most Chinese, tea is a medicine, an art, and resembles Chinese culture.

Biscuits/cookies are often stored for guests.

3.3 Principles of Chinese cooking and cooking methods

The basis of Chinese cooking is to provide nutrition, energy and good health. Chinese cooking is based on the harmony between the different ingredients, neither of them being better or more important than the others; this is called ‘the harmonization principle’. The principle of the harmonization of foods can be traced back to the Shang dynasty scholar Yi Yin (as mentioned in 1.5).[55] He related the five flavors of sweet, sour, bitter, spicy, and salty to the nutritional needs of the five major organ systems of the body which are the heart, liver, spleen/pancreas, lungs, and kidneys. In order to maintain good physical health the five systems must be in balance, which is supported by keeping a balanced diet (see recipes chapter 5). Furthermore, great attention is paid to color, aroma and flavor, also called the ‘three characteristics’, and to the optimum combinations of ingredients. The