China's long history, vast territory and extensive contact with other nations and cultures have given birth to the distinctive Chinese culinary art. With several thousand years of creative and accumulative efforts, the Chinese cuisines have become increasingly popular among more and more overseas gourmets, virtually functioning as an envoy of friendship in China's cultural exchanges with foreign countries.
Modern China enjoys a world wide reputations as the 'kingdom of cuisine'. The exquisite Chinese culinary art, regarded indisputably as one if the world's finest culinary traditions, has prevailed all over the world. The nearly endless variety of natural ingredients and cooking methods employed in Chinese cuisine stand out unequaled in the world, which may very well account for the universal popularity of Chinese restaurants and Chinese cuisine overseas.