Renee Liu, Grade 6, Shen Wai International School

    When you first come to a country, how would you like to understand its culture? By sightseeing? By reading the brochure that the travel agency provided you? Well, those do work, but I suggest you learn all the culture and history and traditions by eating the food. China is a big country that has the richest and most diverse landscapes in the world. The span of geography and climate provides the Chinese with abundant sources of food and many different ways to cook it.

    Once, one of my mom’s friends from the United States asked me, “what kind of special food do you have in Shenzhen besides McDonald’s?” I smirked and answered: “You’ll be overwhelmed by the amount.”

    Shenzhen attracts many immigrants from other provinces and countries, resulting in different cuisines. Here in Shenzhen, you can find everything from snacks from Xi’an to seafood dishes from Taiwan.

    I came to Shenzhen when I was a kid, and my parents took me to many restaurants where the cuisines were unique. Some I liked and some I didn’t.

    Around the globe, food plays a very important role in people’s daily lives, and especially here in China. In ancient China, the common currency besides gold and silver coins was food.

    If a landlord demanded taxes from farmers, he did not mean actual money, but how many jin [half kilogram] of grain, wheat or rice they had to offer.

    The Chinese have various ways of eating, too. Different cuisines occured in different areas due to the area’s climate and geography, and in time they became traditions. Different people prefer different kinds of food, too.

    Shenzhen is a city of diversification, and its food follows suit. You can feel the culture and the history from the food you eat and that’s what I enjoy most about the city: its food diversity.