Usually, China is subdivided into four main regions according to four major Chinese cuisines developed there. These are the northern plains, including Beijing; the fertile east, watered by the Yangtze River; the south, famous for the Cantonese cooking of the Guangdong Province and the fecund west of the Szechwan and Hunan Provinces.

Chinese Imperial cuisine is one of the world's finest methods of food preparation, born and grown as a royal haute cuisine inside the walls of Beijing. The food, prepared according to Imperial traditions, is considered the best Chinese food in China, as well as overseas.

Cantonese cooking is also famous for a variety and tastes of dishes prepared; due to Canton's climate, people can cultivate almost everything there, while the coast provides ample and diverse seafood.

The Szechwan and Hunan provinces are famous for steamy heat and spicy food. To the east of Hunan lies "the land of fish and rice." Thus, the chefs use much rice in cooking here as, well as an abundance of fish species.

Nevertheless, outside China we have good possibilities to try all best Chinese food, as the restaurants often mix these four Chinese cuisines and offer the most favorite dishes from them to the clientele. The menu items are not difficult to read, since the best Chinese food has already become a part of many European cuisines, consequently, the names of the dishes are quite clear.

What does the best Chinese food include? We would like to enumerate here some famous items of the Chinese seafood you are likely to come across in a Chinese seafood restaurant:

1) Thai Basil Salmon - slices of Atlantic salmon stir-fried with hot chili peppers and cherry tomatoes.
2) Pinecone Chilean Sea Bass - filets of Chilean sea bass cut into the shape of a pinecone, dusted with corn starch and fried to a golden brown and topped with a special sweet and sour sauce.
3) Sesame Prawns - lightly battered jumbo shrimps, sautéed in a spicy sesame sauce.
4) Walnut Prawns - jumbo shrimps, tossed in a mayonnaise-based sauce with chunks of fresh pineapple and candied walnuts.
5) Seafood Bird's Nest - jumbo shrimps, scallops, crabmeat, fresh broccoli, water chestnuts, mushrooms and baby corn, sautéed in a wine sauce.
6) Chilean Sea Bass in Black Bean Sauce - slices of Chilean sea bass, stir-fried in a black bean sauce with onions and bell peppers.
7) Steamed Salmon Filet - steamed North Atlantic salmon filets with your choice of ginger sauce, black bean sauce or Szechwan sauce.

If you want to experience Chinese seafood cooking at your home kitchen, it will not be hard to find Chinese seafood recipes; there are many in culinary books, culinary magazines, as well as in the Internet. Do not be afraid of the numerous components, included into this or that Chinese recipe, and prior to cooking it is better not to conclude that it takes too much time or it is beyond your culinary skill level. All Chinese recipes comprise from ten to fifteen ingredients or even more for festive specialties. In fact, due to the abundance of various components, Chinese chefs obtain interesting varieties of flavors, textures and colors, and most Chinese recipes are really quite simple, although their ingredient list is quite lengthy.