Chinese aristocrat cuisine

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Chinese aristocrat cuisine (Chinese: 官府菜; pinyin: guānfǔ cài) traces its origin to the Ming and Qing dynasties when imperial officials stationed in Beijing brought their private chefs and such different variety of culinary styles mixed and developed overtime and formed a unique breed of its own, and thus the Chinese aristocrat cuisine is often called private cuisine. The current Chinese aristocrat cuisine is a mixture of Shandong cuisine, Huaiyang cuisine and Cantonese cuisine. As Beijing was the capital of the last three Chinese dynasties, most of the Chinese aristocrat cuisine originated in Beijing.

The most famous Chinese aristocrat cuisine include:

• Tan Family Cuisine (simplified Chinese: 谭家菜; traditional Chinese: 譚家菜; pinyin: Tán jiā cài), which is characterised by its elaborate work, softness, freshness, and pleasing taste or flavour. The Tan family's own restaurant was compulsorily absorbed by the government in 1954, but the family chef carried on the culinary tradition after moving to the Beijing Hotel. The cuisine is currently served at the Beijing Hotel and Wynn Macau.

• Cuisine of the Dream of the Red Chamber (simplified Chinese: 红楼菜; traditional Chinese: 紅樓菜; pinyin: hónglóu cài), derived from the classical novel Dream of the Red Chamber. It was first fielded in 1983 by the restaurant Laijinyuxuan (simplified Chinese: 来今雨轩; traditional Chinese: 來今雨軒; pinyin: láijīn yǔxuān) in Zhongshan Park, Beijing.

• Confucian cuisine (Chinese: 孔府菜; pinyin: kóngfǔ cài), the cuisine of Confucius's descendants, characterised by the reflection of Confucianism in that there are strict rules of different classes of banquets according to the status of attendees and the specific event.

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