This is a celebration of one of the world's most glorious cuisines. The more than 150 recipes cross the boundaries from region to region and range from regal court dishes to earthy peasant fare. They include the traditional, the familiar and the unusual, and embrace the whole gamut of Chinese cooking techniques, from steaming to stir-frying, and from pickling to reconstituting. They also encompass the great variety of ingredients, indigenous and foreign, that give Chinese cooking its distinctive flavour.