The history of Peking duck goes back to China's Yuan Dynasty of the 13th century. Bianyifang, Beijing's oldest restaurant specializing in Peking duck has been in business since the Jiajing reign of the 16th century, serving as a testament to the popularity of this succulent, tantalizing dish.

The duck is cooked until the skin turns golden and crispy and the meat becomes tender, slightly sweet, and moist. Both the meat and the skin are then folded in thin pancakes or steamed white buns. To make an authentic Beijing kao ya, the duck must be a white feathered American Pekin, hung for 24 hours, and pumped with air through a small puncture between the breasts and wings. 

Twice cooked pork is a Sichuan specialty prepared by cooking fatty pork leg or belly (with the skin intact) in two different ways. Pork is first simmered in a pot and cooled in the refrigerator in order for the meat and fat to firm up. After that, the meat is sliced and stir-fried with vegetables such as cabbage, bell peppers, leeks, and mushrooms until it develops a brown color and the skin gets crispy on the edges.

Ingredients may vary from one cook to another, but most of them add a sauce made with rice wine, soy sauce and various other condiments to the wok along with meat and vegetables. It is believed that the dish was invented during the Song Dynasty period by a poet who was preparing a pork dish for his friend. 

Char siu is a dish consisting of roasted, barbecued pork that has previously been marinated in the eponymous sauce, including ingredients such as soy sauce, hoisin sauce, rice wine, and star anise. The pork is usually served either as a sliced appetizer or shredded and chopped as a main meal.

In the early days of char siu, any available meats, such as wild boars and pigs were used to make the dish. The name char siu is literally translated to fork-roasted, referring to the original method of preparation in which the meat is placed on an elongated fork and roasted over an open fire that caramelizes the sugars found in the marinade. 

A version of typical Cantonese siu mei (roasted meat dishes), siu yuk is a hefty meal that is mostly consumed in small quantities, made by roasting a whole, seasoned pig in charcoal furnaces at very high temperatures, resulting in succulent, tender meat and crispy skin.

Traditionally, the meat is served as it is, but it is sometimes accompanied by either hoisin sauce or soy sauce. Since it is a known fact that the Chinese have many beliefs, in Hong Kong siu yuk is often oferred to the Jade Emperor (the first god in Chinese culture) in order to celebrate a movie's opening, hoping that the movie achieves great success in the cinemas. 

A traditional dish of the Cantonese cuisine, crispy fried chicken consists of chicken that is first steamed and dried, then deep-fried in a special way so that the skin remains extremely crunchy, and the meat underneath gets tender. The chicken is steamed with spices such as cinnamon, Sichuan pepper, ginger, anise, and nutmeg.

Later, it usually gets drizzled over with a combination of sugar and vinegar, helping the skin achieve its typical crispiness in the process. According to tradition, crispy fried chicken is a dish that should be eaten at night, while it is also regularly consumed at most Chinese wedding feasts. 

Beef chow fun is a Cantonese dish prepared by stir-frying previously marinated beef slices together with flat, wide rice noodles (hor fun), and bean sprouts. Because of the preparation method, beef chow fun is a true measure of any accomplished Cantonese chef.

Specifically, it is necessary to get two things right: wok hei — the cooking technique of stir-frying the ingredients at high heat which imparts them with a special umami flavor; and pow wok — a way of quickly tossing the ingredients without the use of a spatula, which prevents sticking and does not break the delicate rice noodles. 

Sweet and sour spare ribs is a popular Chinese dish that is mostly consumed in restaurants since it is somewhat hard to prepare it at home. Spare ribs are first marinated, deep-fried, then dipped in Chinese sweet and sour sauce. Traditionally, the dish is served as an appetizer and is extremely popular in the southern parts of China.

In Chinese culture, pork symbolizes prosperity, so the dish is often prepared and served for Chinese New Year. The Chinese people love to serve sweet and sour dishes during the festive time because the word sour (syun in Cantonese) sounds like the word grandchild when pronounced, giving hope for a new offspring. 

The traditional Hangzhou's trademark dish of red-cooked pork belly, Dōngpō ròu, is built with a handful of Chinese staple ingredients like ginger, scallions, soy sauce and, most importantly, Shàoxīng rice cooking wine, an essential ingredient for red-cooked meals.

The meat (with the skin on) is typically browned in fat, simmered twice, braised, sautéed, and finally steamed, after which it becomes so amazingly tender it can be pulled away with chopsticks. Dōngpō ròu is said to have been invented (or at least inspired) by Su Dongpo, an 11th-century Song Dynasty statesman, poet, artist, calligrapher, and one of the four classical Chinese gastronomes.