Cities of Culture: Huaian(1/15)

Huaian, a city in central Jiangsu Province with a history exceeding 2500 years, has been added to UNESCO's Creative Cities Network as a world gastronomy city.

The city is a birthplace of Huaiyang cuisine, one of the Four Great Traditions in Chinese cuisine.

Among the 2700-plus classic dishes of Chinese cuisine, more than 400 are originated in Huaian.

Sitting on the North-South divide of the country, the geographical location has given the city a combination of both Northern and Southern Chinese cuisine.

The uniqueness of the city has also created rich dishes with lobsters and hairy crabs.

Fish is the main part of Huai-Yang cuisine, which has a light, mild and sweet flavor while preserving the original taste of the ingredients.

Local dishes regularly feature in grand national banquets.

Huaian food has been molded partly by the 2,500-year history of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.

As early as the Spring and Autumn Period (770BC-476BC), the canal was built around Huaian, and local food and snacks from the city were brought to other areas.

In the Qing Dynasty, Huaian flourished as a center for many industries and its cuisine also started to absorb specialties from across the country.

By the end of 2020, the city had more than 40,000 restaurants of all kinds.

The city's annual catering sales reach 21 billion yuan ($3.3 billion).

Huaihai Opera, one of the national intangible cultural heritage, is a local traditional drama in Huaian City and other regions of Jiangsu Province.

In 2008, Huaihai Opera was included on the second batch of the national intangible cultural heritage list.

The performing arts of Huaihai opera have extremely strong local flavor and rich folk color.