Regional Variations

Although many kinds of sweet foods can be found in different forms across China, there are striking regional variations. In Hunan, savory main dishes are rarely sweetened, while the people of Suzhou and Wuxi in eastern China are notorious in other parts of the country for adding sugar to almost everything. Local specialties include Wuxi sweet-and-sour ribs (wu xi rou gu tou), Suzhou cherry-red pork (ying tao rou), Suzhou “squirrel” fish (song shu yu), and Suzhou “boat snacks” (chuan dian): the little steamed dumplings ingeniously colored and sculpted to resemble fruits, nuts, and animals that were once served on the pleasure boats that thronged Tai Hu Lake. This local predilection for sweetness is also felt in nearby Shanghai, a melting pot of culinary influences from its surrounding region.