This is a list of historical Chinese sources referring to

Chinese cuisine Chinese cuisine encompasses the numerous cuisines originating from China, as well as overseas cuisines created by the Chinese diaspora. Because of the Chinese diaspora and historical power of the country, Chinese cuisine has influenced many o ...

. Not long after the expansion of the

Chinese Empire The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the reign of king Wu Ding. Ancient historical texts such as the ''Book of Documents'' (early chapter ...

during the

Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin state (modern Gansu and Shaanxi), ...

(221 BC–207 BC) and

Han dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...

(202 BC–220 AD), Chinese writers noted the great differences in culinary practices among people from different parts of the realm. These differences followed to a great extent the varying

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologi ...

and availability of foodstuffs in China.

Pre-Han dynasty

Documents compiled before 206 BC.

Pre-Sui states

Documents before Sui dynasty (581–618)

Sui dynasty

Documents compiled during the Sui dynasty (581–618).

Tang dynasty

Documents compiled during the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...

(618–907)

Song dynasty

Documents compiled during the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...

(960–1279) The population of China doubled in size during the 10th and 11th centuries. This growth came through expanded rice cultivation in central and southern China, the use of early- ripening rice from southeast and southern Asia, and the production of abundant food surpluses.

Jin dynasty

Documents compiled during the Jin dynasty (1115–1234)

Yuan dynasty

During the

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fift ...

(1271–1368), contacts with the West also brought the introduction to China of a major food crop, sorghum, along with other foreign food products and methods of preparation.

Ming dynasty

China during the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peo ...

(1368–1644) became involved in a new global trade of goods, plants, animals, and food crops known as the Columbian Exchange. Although the bulk of imports to China were silver, the Chinese also purchased

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...

crops from the

Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...

. This included sweet potatoes,

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The ...

, and

peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics, important to both small and ...

s, foods that could be cultivated in lands where traditional Chinese staple crops—wheat, millet, and rice—couldn't grow, hence facilitating a rise in the population of China.Ebrey, Patricia Buckley (1999). The Cambridge Illustrated History of China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Crosby, Alfred W., Jr. (2003). The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492; 30th Anniversary Edition. Westport: Praeger Publishers. . In the Song dynasty (960–1279), rice had become the major staple crop of the poor;Gernet, Jacques (1962). Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion, 1250–1276. Translated by H. M. Wright. Stanford: Stanford University Press. , 136. after sweet potatoes were introduced to China around 1560, it gradually became the traditional food of the lower classes.Crosby, Alfred W., Jr. (2003). The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492; 30th Anniversary Edition. Westport: Praeger Publishers. , 200.

Qing dynasty

Documents compiled during the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-spea ...

(1644–1912)

Post-Qing period

Documents compiled after the

Notes

References

* Anderson, Eugene Newton (1988). ''The Food of China''. Yale University Press, New Haven. * Brook, Timothy (1998). '' The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China''. Berkeley: University of California Press. * Chang, Kwang-chih; Eugene Newton Anderson (1977). ''Food in Chinese Culture: Anthropological and Historical Perspectives''. Yale University Press. * Ebrey, Patricia Buckley; Kwang-Ching Liu (1999)
''The Cambridge Illustrated History of China''
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (paperback). * Mazumdar, Sucheta (1998). ''Sugar and society in China: peasants, technology, and the world market''. Harvard Univ Asia Center. * Needham, Joseph Needham; Ling Wang (2008)
''Science and Civilisation in China''
Cambridge University Press. * Newman, Jacqueline M. (2004)
''Food culture in China. Greenwood Publishing Group''
* Newman, Jacqueline M. (1987). ''Chinese Cookbooks: An Annotated English-language Compendium/bibliography''. Garland Pub.. * Losso, Jack N.; Fereidoon Shahidi, Debasis Bagchi (2007)
''Anti-angiogenic functional and medicinal foods''
CRC Press. * Simoons, Frederick J. (1991)
''Food in China: a cultural and historical inquiry''
CRC Press. * Wilkinson, Endymion Porter (2000)
''Chinese history: a manual''
Harvard Univ Asia Center.

External links

* Liste von Quellen zur Geschichte der chinesischen Ess- und Trinkkultur (a commented and more comprehensive list in German) {{DEFAULTSORT:List of Chinese culinary history sources

Sources Source may refer to: Research * Historical document * Historical source * Source (intelligence) or sub source, typically a confidential provider of non open-source intelligence * Source (journalism), a person, publication, publishing institute o ...

* Culinary