Chinese cooking has many recipes - a worldcook site on only Chinese cooking would not be finished even in a lifetime! The country is vast and has a large ethnic diversity, the climate is variable from desert hot to Siberian cold and therefore, North, South, East and West have very different cooking styles. In the North, noodles are often used, like prawns and pork noodles, while the South has many sauces. The dishes from the East are often sweet, whereas Western Chinese cooking can be spicy. The food is very refined and the quantities of meat and fish are often small, probably a result of the fact, that there are many Chinese and not so much food. Balance in Chinese food is very important: not only the world famous "Yin and Yang", but also between fan (grains and starch) and tsai (vegetables and meats) which must be available in all meals. Salty, sweet, sour, hot and bitter must also be balanced, which becomes clear in dishes that carry names like "hot and sour" and "sweet and sour". And there are other things to be considered, like hot and cold and smooth and crunchy. Eating is an art in China, and it is not only enjoyed for its taste, but also believed to have an effect on mental and physical health, with the balance in food characteristics enhancing a mental and physical wellness.
Special days in China, on which you may decide to serve these dishes, are the 12th of March, "tree planting day"; 16th of June, Duanwu Festival or Dragon Boat Festival and 21 December, Midwinterday. Chines like to eat dim sum on their New Year, which is also called Spring festival and thus does not take place on the 1st of January but on different dates between mid January and February. Click on culinary calendar for more links between cooking and worldwide celebration.