Peking roast duck
A duck roasted until its skin is thin, dark and crisp, carved at the table and rolled into thin pancakes with sweet bean sauce, scallion and cucumber.
Life in Mainland China
North China
The capital and the plains around it, the grasslands beyond the Great Wall, and a kitchen built on wheat.
Play: North China quizTap a place.
The land
North China is the great plain of the Yellow River and the hills and plateaus around it. To the west, Shanxi sits on the Loess Plateau, a land of fine yellow soil carved into terraces and cave dwellings. Beyond the Great Wall to the north, Inner Mongolia, a land of grassland, desert and forest, stretches for more than two thousand kilometres along the border.
Living there
Winters are cold and dry and summers hot. North of a line drawn along the Qinling Mountains and the Huai River, homes have had central heating in winter since the 1950s; south of it, mostly they do not, which is why visitors from the north complain of the southern cold.
How it sounds
Standard Mandarin takes its pronunciation from the Beijing dialect, so the north sounds like the textbooks, with one exception: Beijingers add an -r to the end of many words. Shanxi speaks Jin dialects, and Mongolian is spoken alongside Mandarin in Inner Mongolia.
What it eats
The north grows wheat, so its staples are noodles, steamed buns, flatbreads and dumplings rather than rice. Vinegar from Shanxi, sesame paste and scallion are everywhere, and the imperial kitchens of Beijing left dishes like roast duck.
Beijing
The capital, a city of palaces, hutong alleys and the Great Wall within a day trip.
- The Forbidden City, the palace of the Ming and Qing emperors
- Hutongs: narrow lanes of courtyard houses, some of them centuries old
- Noodles with fried soybean paste, a summer staple of the old city
Tianjin
A port city half an hour from Beijing by high-speed train, known for snacks and stand-up comedy.
- Goubuli steamed buns, with their eighteen pleats on top
- Crosstalk, the comic double act performed in its teahouses
- Mahua: crunchy fried dough twists, sold by the box as a gift
Jianbing
A crepe of mung bean batter spread on a hot griddle, an egg cracked over it, then sauce, scallion, coriander and a crisp cracker or fried dough stick, folded into a parcel. Breakfast eaten walking.
Hebei
The province that wraps around Beijing and Tianjin, from the Bohai coast to the mountains.
- Shanhaiguan, where the Great Wall runs down to the sea
- The Chengde Mountain Resort, the Qing emperors' summer retreat
- It surrounds both Beijing and Tianjin
Donkey meat flatbread
A crisp, flaky flatbread split open and stuffed with chopped, braised donkey meat. In Hebei they say: in heaven there is dragon meat, on earth there is donkey meat.
Shanxi
A high, dry land of noodles, vinegar and some of China's oldest wooden buildings.
- Wutai Shan, one of the four sacred mountains of Chinese Buddhism
- Pingyao, an old walled town of banks and merchants' courtyards
- The Yungang Grottoes near Datong, with Buddhas carved into the cliff 1,500 years ago
Knife-cut noodles
Thick, ridged noodles shaved with a curved blade from a block of dough held over the pot. Eaten with a meat or tomato-and-egg topping, and a splash of Shanxi's dark mature vinegar.
Inner Mongolia
A long crescent of grassland, desert and forest along the northern border.
- Grasslands where herders still move with their flocks
- Whole roast lamb, the dish for a feast
- Naadam, the summer festival of wrestling, horse racing and archery
Salty milk tea
Brick tea boiled with milk and a pinch of salt, drunk through the day with fried millet, dried curd and butter stirred in. Not sweet, and not the milk tea of the city cafes.
Play
North China quiz
Dishes, famous sights and capitals. Every answer comes with the story behind it.
Which place is famous for this? "Roast duck with a lacquered, crackling skin, carved at the table and rolled in thin pancakes."
Answer
Beijing. Beijing. The capital, a city of palaces, hutong alleys and the Great Wall within a day trip.
Which place is famous for this? "Jianbing guozi: a mung-bean crepe with egg wrapped around a fried dough stick, eaten on the way to work."
Answer
Tianjin. Tianjin. A port city half an hour from Beijing by high-speed train, known for snacks and stand-up comedy.
Which place is famous for this? "Donkey meat in a crisp flatbread, the pride of Baoding and Hejian."
Answer
Hebei. Hebei. The province that wraps around Beijing and Tianjin, from the Bohai coast to the mountains.
What is the capital of Hebei?
Answer
Shijiazhuang. Shijiazhuang. Hebei is also known for: shanhaiguan, where the Great Wall runs down to the sea.
Which place is famous for this? "Mature vinegar, aged for years, and poured over a bowl of knife-cut noodles."
Answer
Shanxi. Shanxi. A high, dry land of noodles, vinegar and some of China's oldest wooden buildings.
What is the capital of Shanxi?
Answer
Taiyuan. Taiyuan. Shanxi is also known for: wutai Shan, one of the four sacred mountains of Chinese Buddhism.
Which place is famous for this? "Salty milk tea, poured from a kettle and drunk with fried millet and dried curd."
Answer
Inner Mongolia. Inner Mongolia. A long crescent of grassland, desert and forest along the northern border.
What is the capital of Inner Mongolia?
Answer
Hohhot. Hohhot. Inner Mongolia is also known for: grasslands where herders still move with their flocks.