Life of Guangzhou - Yue Cuisine, Cantonese Opera, Yum Cha and Dim Sum Dining

Yue Cuisine's Natural and Delicate Flavors

Guangdong cuisine, one of the main branches of Chinese cuisine, combines traditions from Guangzhou, Chaozhou, and Dongjiang.

Though its influences and ingredients come from all over the country, Guangdong cuisine has formed its own distinctive characteristics. It features a wide variety of delicacies in all shapes, colors, and flavors, varying from light and delicate in the summer and autumn to hearty but mellow in the winter and spring. What is more, the fragrance of the food is almost as important as the taste itself.

As an old saying goes, "Guangdong serves best food in the country," and Guangdong more than deserves its reputation for providing "one-hundred kinds of snacks with one hundred tastes and one hundred shapes." Now, as more and more foreign influences enter the city, we can also say, "Guangdong offers delicacies from all over the world."

A History of Cantonese Opera

Cantonese Opera, or Yuet Kahk (粤剧), can be dated back to the southern Song dynasty (AD 1179-1276), but many well-known operas performed today are from the Yuen dynasty (AD 1280-1368). For example, operas like "The Purple Hairpin" and "Rejuvenation of the Red Plum Flower" originally come from Yuen dynasty opera librettos. Cantonese opera was originally sung in a Tang dialect similar to present day Cantonese or FuJianinese.

During the Yuen dynasty, many innovations were developed. The multi-act opera, or ZaJu (杂剧), in which acts are based on various rhyme schemes, was introduced during this period. Furthermore, the tradition of having specialized roles, or Hong Kong, such as Darn (旦; female), Saung (生; male), and Chou (丑; jester), came into being.

The 1920s saw radical changes in Cantonese opera, as the use of Cantonese was re-established and the tradition of having males sing the lead female role was ended. All-male and all-female troups merged, and the Four Superstars (四大天王) and the Four Great Male Vocals (四大平喉) became famous. These changes heralded the reinvention and renewal of the entire art form.

Yum Cha and Dim Sum Dining

Snacking between the main meals of the day may sound like a weak-willed dieter's fantasy, but in Guangzhou it is part of a dining tradition known as Yum Cha, or "tea drinking."

Yum Cha is an opportunity for families to gather together on the weekends; it is a time dedicated to catching up and making plans, to discussing major life events and minor happenings. As one Chinese person suggestion, it may resemble the Sunday brunch after church that is familiar to many religious Westerners.

The relaxing atmosphere and chatty customers at many Yum Cha restaurants bear some resemblance to contemporary Western cafés, but they offer diners an experience well beyond the fare found at most bagel-slinging, mocha-slurping coffeehouses.

Dim sum, roughly translated as "a little bit of heart," or "a little delicacy," is the edible counterpart of Yum Cha. Given the long history of Yum Cha and Dim Sum, it is not surprising that, by one count, some two thousand items make up the dim sum recipe canon. Of this vast repertoire, the larger traditional Yum Cha restaurants often make as many as one hundred different dishes a day. (file information)