Dim sum
Small dishes with tea, in baskets and plates: siu mai (open-topped pork dumplings with a dot of roe), har gow (translucent shrimp dumplings), char siu buns, rice noodle rolls and many more.
Life in Mainland China
South China
Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan: the Cantonese heartland, the karst of Guilin, and the tropics.
Play: South China quizTap a place.
The land
South China lies below the Nanling Mountains, in the subtropics and the tropics: Guangdong and its Pearl River Delta, Guangxi with its karst peaks, and the island of Hainan. Rivers, coasts and long, warm growing seasons give it two or three rice harvests a year, and fruit year round.
Living there
The delta is one of the world's great manufacturing regions, and its cities, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Foshan among them, are some of China's largest. Summers bring typhoons from the sea. Guangxi is home to the Zhuang, China's largest minority, whose song fairs on the third day of the third lunar month are famous.
How it sounds
Cantonese, the language of Guangzhou and Hong Kong, has six to nine tones and keeps sounds that Mandarin lost centuries ago; it is the mother tongue of tens of millions. Guangxi speaks Cantonese, southwestern Mandarin and Zhuang; Hainan has its own Min dialect.
What it eats
The Cantonese eat early and often: morning tea with dim sum, roast meats hung in shop windows, slow-cooked soups. Fruit is everywhere: lychees, longans, mangoes. Guangxi has its rice noodles, and Hainan its chicken and its coconuts.
Guangdong
The Pearl River Delta, the home of Cantonese food and language.
- Char siu: barbecued pork with a sticky, red-edged glaze
- Roast goose with crisp, glassy skin
- Cantonese, spoken by tens of millions in the province and beyond
Guangxi
Karst peaks, river valleys and the home of the Zhuang people.
- The karst peaks along the Li River between Guilin and Yangshuo
- Guilin rice noodles
- The rice terraces of Longsheng
Luosifen
Rice noodles in a broth of river snails, with sour pickled bamboo shoot, peanuts, fried tofu skin, wood ear and plenty of chilli oil. The fermented bamboo shoot gives it its famous smell.
Hainan
A tropical island of coconut groves and long beaches.
- Coconuts, fresh from the tree
- Beaches at Sanya
- The one province that lies wholly in the tropics
Wenchang chicken
A free-range chicken poached until just cooked, served cold and sliced with rice cooked in its stock, and dips of ginger and chilli. The dish behind Hainanese chicken rice in Southeast Asia.
Play
South China quiz
Dishes, famous sights and capitals. Every answer comes with the story behind it.
Which place is famous for this? "Dim sum: a morning of tea and small dishes in a busy teahouse."
Answer
Guangdong. Guangdong. The Pearl River Delta, the home of Cantonese food and language.
What is the capital of Guangdong?
Answer
Guangzhou. Guangzhou. Guangdong is also known for: char siu: barbecued pork with a sticky, red-edged glaze.
Which place is famous for this? "Luosifen: river snail rice noodles from Liuzhou, famous for their smell."
Answer
Guangxi. Guangxi. Karst peaks, river valleys and the home of the Zhuang people.
What is the capital of Guangxi?
Answer
Nanning. Nanning. Guangxi is also known for: the karst peaks along the Li River between Guilin and Yangshuo.
Which place is famous for this? "Wenchang chicken, the bird behind Hainanese chicken rice."
Answer
Hainan. Hainan. A tropical island of coconut groves and long beaches.
What is the capital of Hainan?
Answer
Haikou. Haikou. Hainan is also known for: coconuts, fresh from the tree.