114-402: Dim sum ( traditional Chinese : 點心 ; simplified Chinese : 点心 ; pinyin : diǎn xīn ; Jyutping : dim2 sam1 ) is a large range of small Chinese dishes that are traditionally enjoyed in restaurants for brunch. Most modern dim sum dishes are commonly associated with Cantonese cuisine , although dim sum dishes also exist in other Chinese cuisines. In the tenth century, when
228-509: A certain extent in South Korea , remain virtually identical to traditional characters, with variations between the two forms largely stylistic. There has historically been a debate on traditional and simplified Chinese characters . Because the simplifications are fairly systematic, it is possible to convert computer-encoded characters between the two sets, with the main issue being ambiguities in simplified representations resulting from
342-859: A cup of tea, read the newspaper, and wait for friends and family to join them. As a result, a visit to a dim sum restaurant can last from late morning well into the afternoon. For some people in Hong Kong, eating dim sum is a daily routine and a way of life. Since this dim sum tradition is not always present in some U.S. dim sum restaurants, however, approaches to generate interest and attract customers include customized seasoning and flavors of traditional dishes, as well as creating novel dishes with an emphasis on enhanced flavors and visual appeal. One food reviewer notes that there has been an increase in popularity in posting dim sum photos on social media feeds, and that dim sum has become so popular that every U.S. state now has at least one high-quality dim sum restaurant. There
456-688: A decrease in appetite, so that people prefer eating scaled-down meals throughout the day rather than the customary three large meals. Teahouses in Guangzhou served "three teas and two meals," which included lunch and dinner, and breakfast, afternoon and evening teas with dim sum. Many dim sum dishes are made of seafood, chopped meats, or vegetables wrapped in dough or thin wrappings and steamed, deep-fried, or pan-fried. A traditional dim sum brunch includes various types of steamed buns, such as cha siu bao (a steamed bun filled with barbecue pork), rice or wheat dumplings , and rice noodle rolls that contain
570-493: A proper meal; therefore, you can treat yourself to some small snacks." In this context, "dim sum" means "to barely fill your stomach". Dim sum dishes are usually associated with " yum cha " ( Chinese : 飲茶 ; pinyin : yǐn chá ; Cantonese Yale : yám chàh ), which is known as the Cantonese brunch tradition. Chinese food historian Yan-kit So has described dim sum as: Literally translated as "so close to
684-461: A public teahouse during a trip where the emperor concealed his identity to mingle with the commoners. Having been instructed by the emperor to not expose his identity to the public, the servant showed gratitude by improvising the finger-tapping gesture instead of what should have been a kowtow, which would have betrayed the emperor's noble status. The practice gradually evolved to represent gratitude for having tea poured by others. Diners also flip open
798-412: A range of ingredients , including beef , chicken, pork, prawns , and vegetarian options. Many dim sum restaurants also offer plates of steamed green vegetables, stuffed eggplant, stuffed green peppers, roasted meats, congee and other soups. Dessert dim sum is also available and can be ordered at any time since there is not a set sequence for the meal. It is customary to order "family-style", sharing
912-441: A result, there are more than a thousand different varieties of dim sum. During the 1920s, in Guangzhou, the foremost places to enjoy tea were its tea pavilions, which had refined and expansive surroundings. The customers were wealthy, and there were rather high standards for the privilege of enjoying tea pavilion service and dim sum. Upon entering a tea pavilion, customers would inspect tea leaves to ensure their quality and to verify
1026-613: A standard set of Chinese character forms used to write Chinese languages . In Taiwan , the set of traditional characters is regulated by the Ministry of Education and standardized in the Standard Form of National Characters . These forms were predominant in written Chinese until the middle of the 20th century, when various countries that use Chinese characters began standardizing simplified sets of characters, often with characters that existed before as well-known variants of
1140-406: A starting point for the wide variety of dim sum available today. Chefs created a large range of dim sum that even today comprises most of a teahouse's dim sum offerings. Part of this development included reducing portion sizes of larger dishes originally from northern China, such as stuffed steamed buns, so they could easily be incorporated into the dim sum menu. The rapid growth in dim sum restaurants
1254-563: A three-stage model of broad political trends during this time period. The first stage (880–910) consists of the period between the Huang Chao Rebellion and the formal end of the Tang dynasty, which saw chaotic fighting between warlords who controlled approximately one or two prefectures each. The second stage (910–950) saw the various warlords stabilize and gain enough legitimacy to proclaim new dynasties. The third stage (950–979) saw
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#17327803717741368-486: A total of 23 types that were prepared by pan-frying, deep-frying, steaming, baking, and roasting. As the Chinese Civil War progressed from 1927 to 1949, many dim sum chefs left China and settled in Hong Kong, resulting in further refinements and innovations of the dim sum there. Very large dim sum restaurants in major cities like Hong Kong, San Francisco, Boston, Toronto, and New York were also established. In
1482-459: A total that no other area in China comes even close to matching. In fact, the cookbooks of most Chinese food cultures tend to combine their own variations on dim sum dishes with other local snacks. But that is not the case with Cantonese dim sum, which has developed into a separate branch of cuisine. Dim sum restaurants typically have a wide variety of dishes, usually totaling several dozen. The tea
1596-404: A very broad range of flavors, textures, cooking styles, and ingredients, and can be classified into regular items, seasonal offerings, weekly specials, banquet dishes, holiday dishes, house signature dishes, travel-friendly, as well as breakfast or lunch foods and late night snacks. The subtropical climate of the southeast quadrant of Guangdong partly influences dim sum's portion size. It can cause
1710-705: A wood-fired grill and served with sesame-horseradish sauce. One AAA four-diamond-award-winning Chinese restaurant in Miami Beach has a prix-fixe dim sum menu, prix-fixe "yum cha" menu and breakfast cocktails. Variations designed for visual appeal on social media, such as dumplings and buns made to resemble animals and fictional characters, also exist. Dim sum chefs have previously used cocoa powder as coloring to create steamed bread puffs to appear like forest mushrooms, espresso powder as both flavoring and coloring for deep-fried riblets, as well as pastry cream, and French puffs to create innovative dishes while paying tribute to
1824-433: Is dim sum , which translates literally to "touch the heart", the term used to designate the small food items that accompanied the tea. Teahouse owners gradually added various snacks called dim sum to their offerings. The practice of having tea with dim sum eventually evolved into the modern " yum cha ". Cantonese dim sum culture developed rapidly during the latter half of the nineteenth century in Guangzhou. Cantonese dim sum
1938-812: Is 産 (also the accepted form in Japan and Korea), while in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan the accepted form is 產 (also the accepted form in Vietnamese chữ Nôm ). The PRC tends to print material intended for people in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, and overseas Chinese in traditional characters. For example, versions of the People's Daily are printed in traditional characters, and both People's Daily and Xinhua have traditional character versions of their website available, using Big5 encoding. Mainland companies selling products in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan use traditional characters in order to communicate with consumers;
2052-1650: Is a restaurant, bar, and highly rated dance club complex in Las Vegas, NV, that features high-end Cantonese food (including dim sum), craft cocktails, dinner parties, and prominent disc jockeys in a chic setting. The dim sum restaurants in Chicago's Chinatown serve mainly traditional dim sum dishes, but there has been recent growth in contemporary dim sum with new fusion dishes, as well as restaurants now located outside Chinatown. In Hong Kong, many chefs are also introducing variants based on traditional Cantonese cuisine, which generates interest and provides both Hongkongers and tourists with new, fresh dim sum dishes. In addition to traditional dim sum, some chefs also create and prepare new fusion-based dim sum dishes. Modern versions of buns include pork belly steamed buns with cucumber, green onion, cilantro, and ginger hoisin sauce, cocoa mushroom buns, chili lamb buns. Dumplings include snow pea shoot and shrimp dumplings, and chili crab with fried garlic, siu mai with pork, shrimp, scallop, and caviar, dumplings stuffed with shrimp and peanut, dumplings with South Australian scallop, garoupa (grouper), caviar, gold leaf, and egg white, and bone marrow or beef short ribs in potstickers. Pastry puff dishes include Australian Wagyu beef puff, Assam curry chicken puff, and pumpkin puffs. Toast dishes include Hong Kong–style French toast with condensed milk and peanut butter and prawn toast. Additional examples are spring rolls filled with goat and duck skin and duck hearts cooked over
2166-904: Is the Cantonese pronunciation, came to represent dishes made in a similar fashion. Some versions date the legend to the Southern Song dynasty (960–1279) after the term's earliest attestation in the Book of Tang ( Chinese : 唐書 ; pinyin : Táng shū ; Jyutping : Tong4 Syu1 ). Written in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (907–979), the book uses dim sum as a verb instead: 「治妝未畢, 我未及餐, 爾且可點心」( pinyin : "Zhì zhuāng wèi bì, wǒ wèi jí cān, ěr qiě kě diǎn xīn" ; Jyutping : "Zi6 zong1 mei6 bat1, ngo5 mei6 kap6 caan1, ji5 ce2 ho2 dim2 sam1" ), which translates to "I have not finished preparing myself and am not ready for
2280-694: Is very important, just as important as the food. Many Cantonese restaurants serve dim sum as early as five in the morning, while more traditional restaurants typically serve dim sum until mid-afternoon. Dim sum restaurants have a unique serving method where servers offer dishes to customers from steam-heated carts. It is now commonplace for restaurants to serve dim sum at dinner and sell various dim sum items à la carte for takeout . In addition to traditional dim sum, some chefs also create and prepare new fusion-based dim sum dishes. There are also variations designed for visual appeal on social media, such as dumplings and buns made to resemble animals. The original meaning of
2394-503: Is very popular in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. Some Cantonese restaurants serve dim sum as early as five in the morning, while more traditional restaurants typically serve dim sum from mid-morning until mid-afternoon. It is common for restaurants to serve dim sum during dinner as well as for takeout . Dim sum is served using a unique serving method whereby servers offer dishes to customers from carts, including some carts that are steam-heated. Diners often prefer tables nearest
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#17327803717742508-493: The Chinese Commercial News , World News , and United Daily News all use traditional characters, as do some Hong Kong–based magazines such as Yazhou Zhoukan . The Philippine Chinese Daily uses simplified characters. DVDs are usually subtitled using traditional characters, influenced by media from Taiwan as well as by the two countries sharing the same DVD region , 3. With most having immigrated to
2622-724: The Old History and the New History . Written from the northern viewpoint, these chronicles organized the history around the Five Dynasties (the north), presenting the Ten Kingdoms (the south) as illegitimate, self-absorbed and indulgent. The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period turned away from the international cultural mood of the Tang dynasty and appears as a transition towards the solidified national culture of
2736-579: The Jin dynasty ), and the Western Xia was eventually established in China's northwest. Many states had been de facto independent long before 907 as the late Tang dynasty's control over its numerous fanzhen officials waned, but the key event was their recognition as sovereign by foreign powers. After the Tang collapsed, several warlords of the Central Plain crowned themselves emperor. During
2850-685: The Kensiu language . Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period ( Chinese : 五代十國 ) was an era of political upheaval and division in Imperial China from 907 to 979. Five dynastic states quickly succeeded one another in the Central Plain , and more than a dozen concurrent dynastic states, collectively known as the Ten Kingdoms, were established elsewhere, mainly in South China . It
2964-854: The Later Han fell to the Han Chinese-led Later Zhou in 951. With the protection of the powerful Liao dynasty, the Northern Han maintained nominal independence until the Song dynasty wrested it from the Khitans in 979. The smallest of the southern states, Jingnan (924–963), was founded by Gao Jichang , a former general of Liang. It was based in Jiangling and held two other districts southwest of present-day Wuhan in Hubei . Gao
3078-640: The Shanghainese -language character U+20C8E 𠲎 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-20C8E —a composition of 伐 with the ⼝ 'MOUTH' radical—used instead of the Standard Chinese 嗎 ; 吗 . Typefaces often use the initialism TC to signify the use of traditional Chinese characters, as well as SC for simplified Chinese characters . In addition, the Noto, Italy family of typefaces, for example, also provides separate fonts for
3192-704: The Silk Road and into Guangdong. These are just a few examples of how a wide range of influences became incorporated into traditional Cantonese dim sum. By 1860, foreign influences had to shape Guangdong's dim sum with culinary innovations such as ketchup , Worcestershire sauce , and curry, all of which came to be used in some savory dishes. Custard pies evolved into the miniature classics found in every teahouse. Other dim sum dishes evolved from Indian samosas , mango puddings, and Mexican conchas (snow-topped buns). Cantonese-style dim sum has an extremely broad range of tastes, textures, cooking styles, and ingredients. As
3306-466: The Song dynasty . Throughout the period, there was marked cultural and economic growth, rather than decline. Several Northern dynasties originated in the northeast, and centralisation of the north led to a migration of provincial elites into the capital, particularly northeasterners, creating a new metropolitan culture. After the unification of China by the Song dynasty, the culture, arts and literature of
3420-508: The Song imperial family , were of mixed Han Chinese-Turkic- Kumo Xi ancestry. The term "Five Dynasties" was coined by Song dynasty historians and reflects the view that the successive regimes based in Kaifeng , controlled the Central Plain and possessed the Mandate of Heaven . The first of the Five Dynasties was founded by Zhu Wen , the rebel defector turned warlord who ultimately ended
3534-419: The jiedushi commanded de facto independence from its authority. In the last decades of the Tang dynasty, they were not even appointed by the central court anymore, but developed hereditary systems, from father to son or from patron to protégé. They had their own armies rivaling the "palace armies" and amassed huge wealth, as testified by their sumptuous tombs. Due to the decline of Tang central authority after
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3648-429: The "varied landscape" of China was inspired by Taoism . It emphasized the sacredness of mountains as places between heaven and earth and depicted the natural world as a source of harmony. In later tradition, the Five Dynasties is viewed as a period of judicial abuse and excessive punishment. This view reflects both actual problems with the administration of justice and the bias of Confucian historians, who disapproved of
3762-456: The 70-year period, there was near-constant warfare between the emerging kingdoms and the alliances they formed. All had the ultimate goal of controlling the Central Plain and establishing themselves as the Tang's successor. The last of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms regimes was Northern Han , which held out until Song conquered it in 979. For the next several centuries, although the Song controlled much of South China, they coexisted alongside
3876-536: The An Lushan Rebellion, there was a growing tendency to superimpose large regional administrations over the old districts and prefectures that had been used since the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC). These administrations, known as circuit commissions, would become the boundaries of the later Southern regimes; many circuit commissioners became the emperors or kings of these states. The historian Hugh Clark proposed
3990-705: The Later Liang regime. Thus began the Shatuo Later Tang—the first in a long line of conquest dynasties . After reuniting much of northern China, in 924 Cunxu received the submission of Shaanxi's Qi kingdom, and in 925 Cunxu conquered the Former Shu , a regime that had been set up in Sichuan . The Later Tang had a few years of relative calm, followed by unrest. In 934, Sichuan again asserted independence. In 936, Shi Jingtang rebelled against Li Congke ,
4104-580: The Later Zhou. After the death of Guo Wei in 954, his adopted son Chai Rong succeeded the throne and began a policy of expansion and reunification. One month after Chai Rong took the throne, Liu Chong, Emperor of Northern Han , allied with Liao dynasty to launch an assault on Later Zhou. Against the advice of Minister Feng Dao, Chai Rong decided to lead his army against the incursion. When Chai Rong engaged Liu Chong at Gao Ping (in modern Jincheng), two of Chai's generals, Fan Aineng and He Hui, fled from
4218-456: The Liao came to regard the emperor as a proxy ruler for China. In 943, the Khitans declared war and within three years seized the capital, Kaifeng , marking the end of Later Jin. But while they had conquered vast regions of China, the Khitans were unable or unwilling to control those regions and retreated from them early in the next year. To fill the power vacuum, the jiedushi Liu Zhiyuan entered
4332-449: The Liao dynasty, Jin dynasty, and various other regimes in China's north, until finally all of them were unified under the Yuan dynasty . Towards the end of the Tang dynasty, the imperial government granted increased powers to the jiedushi , the regional military governors. The An Lushan (755–763) and Huang Chao rebellions weakened the imperial government, and by the early 10th century
4446-519: The Liao in an attempt to recover territories ceded during the Later Jin. After many victories, he succumbed to illness. In 960, the general Zhao Kuangyin staged a coup and took the throne for himself, founding the Northern Song dynasty . This is the official end of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. During the next two decades, Zhao Kuangyin and his successor Zhao Kuangyi defeated
4560-555: The People's Republic of China, traditional Chinese characters are standardised according to the Table of Comparison between Standard, Traditional and Variant Chinese Characters . Dictionaries published in mainland China generally show both simplified and their traditional counterparts. There are differences between the accepted traditional forms in mainland China and elsewhere, for example the accepted traditional form of 产 in mainland China
4674-621: The Song Dynasty economic boom. This economic shift to the south also led to a vast southward migration. According to Nicholas Tackett, the three provinces of Hebei (Chengde, Youzhou, Weibo) were able to maintain much greater autonomy from the central government in the aftermath of the An Lushan rebellion. With their administration under local military control, these provinces never submitted tax revenues, and governorships lapsed into hereditary succession. They engaged in occasional war with
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4788-465: The South, gave the South room to innovate free of tight administrative controls. The dominant northern officials had been unwilling to serve in the South during the Tang, and so southerners were recruited by the Tang to serve in a local capacity under the "Southern Selection" supplemental system. These southern officials became the administrative core of the Ten Kingdoms and later dominated the bureaucracy by
4902-495: The Southern states were incorporated into the new regime. The Song dynasty adopted a distinctively Southern Chinese cultural outlook. The preserved cultural traditions of Southern Tang, Wu Yue and Later Shu were used to rebuild the cultural landscape of the north. Southern libraries were transported north, Southeastern architecture was promoted in the new capital, and Southeastern Buddhist icons, clergy and relics were concentrated in
5016-520: The Tang dynasty by Wang Jian, who held his court in Chengdu . The kingdom held most of present-day Sichuan , western Hubei , and parts of southern Gansu and Shaanxi . Wang was named military governor of western Sichuan by the Tang court in 891. The kingdom fell when his son surrendered in the face of an advance by the Later Tang in 925. The Later Shu (935–965) is essentially a resurrection of
5130-400: The Tang dynasty. The rest of the Five Dynasties as well as the Song dynasty all emerged from a military organization originally led by Shatuo Turks whose commanders replaced each other in frequent coup d'état . The Later Tang was founded by Li Cunxu , the son of Shatuo leader Li Keyong , who was the main military rival to Zhu Wen in the late Tang. The Later Jin founder Shi Jingtang was
5244-417: The U.S. usually focused on the food itself and not the communal aspects of eating dim sum. Although dim sum is a Chinese meal, it is a communal dining and social experience that can span hours. It is customary for large groups to enjoy dishes together as a leisurely social activity. Diners go to restaurants early, around 10:00 AM, and rather than ordering a whole table of food, they order small amounts, have
5358-587: The United States during the second half of the 19th century, Chinese Americans have long used traditional characters. When not providing both, US public notices and signs in Chinese are generally written in traditional characters, more often than in simplified characters. In the past, traditional Chinese was most often encoded on computers using the Big5 standard, which favored traditional characters. However,
5472-558: The armies of Later Tang, Later Han, and Later Zhou. Zhao, also a professional soldier, rose through the ranks of the Later Zhou before seizing the throne in the Chenqiao Mutiny in 960, which ended the era of the Five Dynasties. The Qing historian Wang Fuzhi (1619–1692) wrote that this period could be compared to the earlier Warring States period of ancient China, remarking that none of the rulers could be described as " Son of Heaven ". The Five Dynasties' rulers, despite claiming
5586-470: The battlefield along with their troops. At this critical moment, Chai Rong risked his life to break through the defense and crushed Liu's forces. After this campaign, Chai Rong consolidated his power. Between 956 and 958, forces of Later Zhou conquered much of Southern Tang , the most powerful regime in southern China, which ceded all the territory north of the Yangtze in defeat. In 959, Chai Rong attacked
5700-439: The capital is said to have executed suspects without inquiry. The Tang code of 737 was the basic statutory law for this period, together supplemental edicts and collections. The Later Liang promulgated a code in 909. This code was blamed for delays in the administration of justice and said to be excessively harsh with respect to economic crimes. The Later Tang, Later Jin, and Later Zhou also produced recompilations. The Later Han
5814-437: The central government, or against each other, and Youzhou seemed to conduct its own foreign policy. This meant that the culture of these northeastern provinces started diverging from the capital. Many of the elites in post-Tang China, including the future emperors of the Song dynasty, came from this region. The administrations of the Five Dynasties and the early Song Dynasty shared a pattern of being disproportionately drawn from
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#17327803717745928-480: The city of Canton ( Guangzhou ) began to experience an increase in commercial travel, many frequented teahouses for small-portion meals with tea called " yum cha " ( brunch ). " Yum cha " includes two related concepts. The first is " jat zung loeng gin " ( Chinese : 一盅兩件 ), which translates literally as "one cup, two pieces". This refers to the custom of serving teahouse customers two delicately made food items, savory or sweet, to complement their tea. The second
6042-403: The control of the central government. In common with other periods of fragmentation, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period resulted in a division between northern and southern China . The greater stability of the Ten Kingdoms, especially the longevity of Wuyue and Southern Han, would contribute to the development of distinct regional identities within China. The distinction was reinforced by
6156-640: The customer calls the server over, and their bill is calculated based on the number of stamps or quantities marked in each priced section. Another way of pricing the food that was consumed uses the number and color of the dishes left on the table. Some restaurants offer a new approach by using a conveyor belt format. Other Cantonese restaurants may take orders from a pre-printed sheet of paper and serve à la carte , much like Spanish tapas restaurants, to provide fresh, cooked-to-order dim sum or because of real estate and resource constraints. Traditional Chinese characters Traditional Chinese characters are
6270-431: The decentralization and militarization that characterized this period. While Tang procedure called for delaying executions until appeals were exhausted, this was not generally the case in the Five Dynasties. Other abuses included the use of severe torture. The Later Han was the most notorious dynasty in this regard. Suspects could be tortured to death with long knives and nails. The military officer in charge of security of
6384-531: The eighteenth year of the Song dynasty , when Qian Shu surrendered to the expanding dynasty. The Min (909–945) was founded by Wang Shenzhi, who named himself the Prince of Min with its capital at Changle (present-day Fuzhou ). One of Shenzhi's sons proclaimed the independent state of Yin in the northeast of Min territory. The Southern Tang took that territory after the Min asked for help. Despite declaring loyalty to
6498-454: The emperor's authority. Li Keyong was the jiedushi for the Hedong circuit in present Shanxi, forming a polity called Jin (晉). His son Li Cunxu and Liu Shouguang fiercely fought the regime forces to conquer northern China; Li Cunxu succeeded. He defeated Liu Shouguang (who had proclaimed a Yan Empire in 911) in 915, and declared himself emperor in 923; within a few months, he brought down
6612-669: The era's name. Some historians, such as Bo Yang , count eleven, including Yan and Qi but not the Northern Han , viewing it as simply a continuation of Later Han. This era also coincided with the founding of the Liao dynasty in the north, and the Dali Kingdom in the southwest. Other regimes during this period include Zhao , Yiwu Circuit, Dingnan Circuit , Wuping Circuit, Qingyuan Circuit , Yin , Ganzhou Uyghur Kingdom , Guiyi Circuit and Xiliangfu . The Yang Wu (902–937)
6726-477: The families of military governors in northern and northwestern China ( Hebei , Shanxi , Shaanxi ), their personal staff, and the bureaucrats who served in the capitals of the Five dynasties. These families had risen to prominence due to the unraveling of central authority after the An Lushan Rebellion, despite lacking esteemed ancestry. The historian Deng Xiaonan argued that many of these military families, including
6840-524: The forceful reunification of China by the Later Zhou dynasty and its successor the Song dynasty, and the demilitarisation of the provinces. Southern China, divided into several independent dynastic kingdoms, was more stable than the North which saw constant regime change. Consequently, the Southern kingdoms were able to embark on trade, land reclamation, and infrastructure projects, laying the groundwork for
6954-695: The form of Qingyuan Jiedushi and Wuping Jiedushi [ zh ] for many years after. With this, Southern Tang became the undisputedly most powerful regime in southern China. However, it was unable to defeat incursions by the Later Zhou between 956 and 958, and ceded all of its land north of the Yangtze River . The Song dynasty, established in 960, was determined to reunify China. Jingnan and Wuping Jiedushi were swept away in 963, Later Shu in 965, Southern Han in 971, and Southern Tang in 975. Finally, Wuyue and Qingyuan Jiedushi gave up their land to Northern Song in 978, bringing all of southern China under
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#17327803717747068-607: The founder of Chu was (according to one source) a carpenter from Xuchang, the founder of Jingnan was a slave from Shanzhou and the founder of Southern Han was a southern tribal chief. The Southern kingdoms were founded by men of low social status who rose up through superior military ability, who were later scorned as "bandits" by future scholars. However, once established, these rulers took great pains to portray themselves as promoters of culture and economic development so as to legitimize their rule; many wooed former Tang courtiers to help administer their states. The economies of each of
7182-601: The fourth emperor of the Later Tang. Shi Jingtang, a Shatuo jiedushi from Taiyuan , was aided by the Khitan -led Liao dynasty in his rebellion. In return for their aid, Shi Jingtang promised annual tribute and the Sixteen Prefectures (modern northern Hebei and Beijing ) to the Khitans. The rebellion succeeded, and Shi Jingtang became emperor in this same year. Not long after the founding of Later Jin,
7296-731: The heart" (i.e., heart touching). This is the term used to designate the small food items that accompanied the drinking of tea. During the thirteenth century, when the Mongols invaded China , the royal court fled to southern China, bringing a royal influence to the dim sum of Guangzhou . Guangzhou was a wealthy, large port city that had international visitors, a temperate climate, and a coastline where fresh and tropical ingredients were grown, resulting in an ideal environment for food and entertainment. In Guangzhou, street vendors and teahouses sold dim sum. The practice of having tea with dim sum at tea houses eventually evolved into modern yum cha . While at
7410-635: The heart", they are, in reality, a large range of hors d'oeuvres Cantonese people traditionally enjoy in restaurants (previously teahouses) for breakfast and lunch but never for dinner, washed down with tea. "Let's go yum cha" (to drink tea) is understood among the Cantonese to mean going to a restaurant for dim sum; such is the twin linkage between the food and the beverage. There are at least two thousand types of dim sum in total across China, and over one thousand available in Guangdong alone. Dim sum are usually eaten as breakfast or brunch . Cantonese dim sum has
7524-723: The history of dim sum. Dim sum can often be purchased from grocery stores in major cities. They can be cooked easily by steaming, frying, or microwaving. Major grocery stores in Hong Kong, Vietnam, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand, Australia, the United States and Canada stock a variety of frozen or fresh dim sum. These include dumplings, shumai , pork buns, and others. In Hong Kong and other cities in Asia, dim sum can be purchased from convenience stores, coffee shops and other eateries. Halal -certified dim sum that uses chicken instead of pork
7638-539: The imperial capital in 947 and proclaimed the advent of the Later Han , establishing a third successive Shatuo reign. This was the shortest of the five dynasties. Following a coup in 951, General Guo Wei , a Han Chinese , was enthroned, thus beginning the Later Zhou . However, Liu Chong , a member of the Later Han imperial family, established a rival Northern Han regime in Taiyuan and requested Khitan aid to defeat
7752-493: The inverse is equally true as well. In digital media, many cultural phenomena imported from Hong Kong and Taiwan into mainland China, such as music videos, karaoke videos, subtitled movies, and subtitled dramas, use traditional Chinese characters. In Hong Kong and Macau , traditional characters were retained during the colonial period, while the mainland adopted simplified characters. Simplified characters are contemporaneously used to accommodate immigrants and tourists, often from
7866-531: The kitchen since servers and carts pass by these tables first. Many restaurants place lazy susans on tables to help diners reach food and tea. The pricing of dishes at these types of restaurants may vary, but traditionally they are classified as "small", "medium", "large", "extra-large", or "special". Servers record orders with a rubber stamp or an ink pen on a bill card that remains on the table. Servers in some restaurants use distinctive stamps to track sales statistics for each server. When they have finished eating,
7980-537: The latter half of the nineteenth century in Guangzhou. Teahouse dining areas were typically located upstairs, and initial dim sum fare included steamed buns. Eventually, these evolved into specialized dim sum restaurants, and the variety and quality of dim sum dishes rapidly followed suit. Cantonese dim sum was originally based on local foods such as sweet roast pork called " char siu " and fresh rice noodles . As dim sum continued to develop, chefs introduced influences and traditions from other regions of China , which created
8094-407: The leadership of Liu Yan seized the territory. In the waning years of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the region was ruled by Zhou Xingfeng . In 963, the region was annexed by Song dynasty. Though considered one of the ten kingdoms, the Northern Han was based in the traditional Shatuo stronghold of Shanxi . It was founded by Liu Min ( 劉旻 ), formerly known as Liu Chong ( 劉崇 ), after
8208-439: The lid (of hinged metal tea pots) or offset the tea pot cover (on ceramic tea pots) to signal an empty pot; servers will then refill the pot. Dim sum is part of the Chinese tradition of snacks originating from the Song dynasty (960–1279), when royal chefs created various dishes such as minced pheasant, lark tongue, and desserts made from steamed milk and bean paste. Guangzhou experienced an increase in commercial travel in
8322-725: The mainland. The increasing use of simplified characters has led to concern among residents regarding protecting what they see as their local heritage. Taiwan has never adopted simplified characters. The use of simplified characters in government documents and educational settings is discouraged by the government of Taiwan. Nevertheless, with sufficient context simplified characters are likely to be successfully read by those used to traditional characters, especially given some previous exposure. Many simplified characters were previously variants that had long been in some use, with systematic stroke simplifications used in folk handwriting since antiquity. Traditional characters were recognized as
8436-682: The majority of Chinese text in mainland China are simplified characters , there is no legislation prohibiting the use of traditional Chinese characters, and often traditional Chinese characters remain in use for stylistic and commercial purposes, such as in shopfront displays and advertising. Traditional Chinese characters remain ubiquitous on buildings that predate the promulgation of the current simplification scheme, such as former government buildings, religious buildings, educational institutions, and historical monuments. Traditional Chinese characters continue to be used for ceremonial, cultural, scholarly/academic research, and artistic/decorative purposes. In
8550-983: The merging of previously distinct character forms. Many Chinese online newspapers allow users to switch between these character sets. Traditional characters are known by different names throughout the Chinese-speaking world. The government of Taiwan officially refers to traditional Chinese characters as 正體字 ; 正体字 ; zhèngtǐzì ; 'orthodox characters'. This term is also used outside Taiwan to distinguish standard characters, including both simplified, and traditional, from other variants and idiomatic characters . Users of traditional characters elsewhere, as well as those using simplified characters, call traditional characters 繁體字 ; 繁体字 ; fántǐzì ; 'complex characters', 老字 ; lǎozì ; 'old characters', or 全體字 ; 全体字 ; quántǐzì ; 'full characters' to distinguish them from simplified characters. Some argue that since traditional characters are often
8664-486: The mid-Song. North China South China During the Tang dynasty, the warlord Zhu Wen was originally a member of Huang Chao 's rebel army, he took on a crucial role in suppressing the Huang Chao Rebellion. For this function, he was awarded the Xuanwu Jiedushi title. Within a few years, he had consolidated his power by destroying neighbours and forcing the move of the imperial capital to Luoyang , which
8778-463: The most powerful of the southern states. Wuyue was known for its learning and culture. It was founded by Qian Liu , who set up his capital at Xifu (modern-day Hangzhou ). It was based mostly in modern Zhejiang province but also held parts of southern Jiangsu . Qian Liu was named the Prince of Yue by the Tang emperor in 902; the Prince of Wu was added in 904. After the fall of the Tang dynasty in 907, he declared himself king of Wuyue. Wuyue survived until
8892-581: The neighboring Wuyue , the Southern Tang finished its conquest of Min in 945. The Southern Han (917–971) was founded in Guangzhou by Liu Yan . His brother, Liu Yin , was named regional governor by the Tang court. The kingdom included Guangdong , Guangxi , and Hainan . It was finally conquered by the Song dynasty. The Ma Chu (927–951) was founded by Ma Yin with the capital at Changsha . The kingdom held Hunan and northeastern Guangxi . Ma
9006-420: The new capital so as to reintegrate these traditions into the imperial culture. This was distinct from the five Northern dynasties, who never supported extended monastic lineage networks but instead typically sought to restrict them and draw on their economic and military resources. Although short, the period saw cultural innovations in different areas. Pottery saw the appearance of "white ceramics"/ In painting,
9120-517: The nineteenth century, Cantonese immigrants brought dim sum to the west and east coasts of the United States. Some of the earliest dim sum restaurants in the U.S. still operating today opened in the 1920s in San Francisco and New York City . The history of San Francisco's Chinese community is believed to have started about 30 years before the first dim sum restaurant opened in the city's Chinatown neighborhood. The Chinese preferred to live in
9234-677: The official script in Singapore until 1969, when the government officially adopted Simplified characters. Traditional characters still are widely used in contexts such as in baby and corporation names, advertisements, decorations, official documents and in newspapers. The Chinese Filipino community continues to be one of the most conservative in Southeast Asia regarding simplification. Although major public universities teach in simplified characters, many well-established Chinese schools still use traditional characters. Publications such as
9348-700: The original standard forms, they should not be called 'complex'. Conversely, there is a common objection to the description of traditional characters as 'standard', due to them not being used by a large population of Chinese speakers. Additionally, as the process of Chinese character creation often made many characters more elaborate over time, there is sometimes a hesitation to characterize them as 'traditional'. Some people refer to traditional characters as 'proper characters' ( 正字 ; zhèngzì or 正寫 ; zhèngxiě ) and to simplified characters as 簡筆字 ; 简笔字 ; jiǎnbǐzì ; 'simplified-stroke characters' or 減筆字 ; 减笔字 ; jiǎnbǐzì ; 'reduced-stroke characters', as
9462-503: The other remaining regimes in South China, conquering Northern Han in 979, starting the Song dynasty era in 982. Unlike the dynasties of northern China, which succeeded one another in rapid succession, the regimes of South China were generally concurrent, each controlling a specific geographical area. These were known as "The Ten Kingdoms" (in fact, some claimed the title of Emperor, such as Former Shu and Later Shu ). Each court
9576-833: The predominant forms. Simplified characters as codified by the People's Republic of China are predominantly used in mainland China , Malaysia, and Singapore. "Traditional" as such is a retronym applied to non-simplified character sets in the wake of widespread use of simplified characters. Traditional characters are commonly used in Taiwan , Hong Kong , and Macau , as well as in most overseas Chinese communities outside of Southeast Asia. As for non-Chinese languages written using Chinese characters, Japanese kanji include many simplified characters known as shinjitai standardized after World War II, sometimes distinct from their simplified Chinese counterparts . Korean hanja , still used to
9690-462: The present Chinatown area because of its restaurants and theatres. In the late 1930s, some early U.S. newspaper references to dim sum began to appear. While some Chinese restaurants in the U.S. had offered dim sum for decades, it was not until the late 1980s that there was a broader public awareness of dim sum. Although there was increased awareness of dim sum around this time, one chef from Hong Kong, who immigrated to San Francisco, noted that diners in
9804-499: The previous Shu state that had fallen a decade earlier to the Later Tang . Because the Later Tang was in decline and Li Cunxu was killed in a revolt, Meng Zhixiang found the opportunity to reassert Shu's independence. Like the Former Shu, the capital was at Chengdu and it basically controlled the same territory as its predecessor. The kingdom was ruled well until forced to succumb to Song armies in 965. The Southern Tang (937–975)
9918-681: The recipes of their favorite foods and continued to prepare and serve these dishes. Many Han Chinese migrated south, seeking warmer climates. Settlements took shape in the Yangtze River Valley , the central highlands, and the coastal southeast, including Guangdong. The influence of Suzhou and Hangzhou is found in vegetarian soy skin rolls and pearl meatballs . The dessert squares flavored with red dates or wolfberries are influenced by Beijing desserts. Savory dishes, such as pot stickers and steamed dumplings, include Muslim influences because of people traveling from Central Asia across
10032-617: The restaurant as a small office space. By the late 1930s, Guangzhou's teahouse culture included four high-profile dim sum chefs, with signs at the front doors of their restaurants. There was heavy competition among teahouses, and as a result, new varieties of dim sum were invented almost daily, including dishes influenced by the tea pastries of Shanghai, Beijing, and the Western world . Many new fusion dishes were also created, including puddings, baked rolls, turnovers, custard tarts, and Malay steamed cakes. There were also significant increases in
10146-414: The rulers of the Southern states were almost all military leaders from the North with their key officers and elite forces also hailing from the North since the bulk of the Tang army was based in the North. The founders of Wu and Former Shu were 'rogues' from Huainan and Xuchang respectively, the founder of Min was a minor government staffer from Huainan, the founder of Wuyue was a 'rogue' from Hangzhou ,
10260-418: The server starts by asking diners which tea to serve. According to etiquette, the person closest to the tea pot pours tea for the others. Sometimes, a younger person will serve an older person. Those receiving tea express thanks by tapping their index and middle fingers twice on the table. According to one legend, the finger-tapping tradition evolved from an incident when an emperor poured tea for his servant in
10374-455: The small dishes consisting of three or four pieces of dim sum among all members of the dining party. Small portion sizes allow people to try a wide variety of food. Dim sum restaurants typically have a wide variety of dishes, usually several dozen. Tea is considered to be very important, so much so that it is considered just as important as the food itself. Teas served during dim sum include: The tea service includes several customs. Typically,
10488-485: The son of a Shatuo commander in Li Keyong's army and became the son-in-law of the Later Tang general and emperor Li Siyuan , who was himself an adopted son of Li Keyong. The Later Han founder Liu Zhiyuan was a Shatuo officer under Li Siyuan and Shi Jintang. The father of the Later Zhou founder Guo Wei fought in Li Keyong's army and Guo served under Liu Zhiyuan. The father of Song founder Zhao Kuangyin served in
10602-498: The southern regions had prospered in the late Tang. Guangdong and Fujian were the sites of important port cities trading exotic goods, the middle Yangtze and Sichuan were centers of tea and porcelain production, and the Yangtze delta was a center of extremely high agricultural production and an entrepot for the other regions. The regions were economically interdependent. Sui and Tang's policies, while paying little attention to developing
10716-486: The stairs. Eventually, dim sum carts were used to serve the steamers and plates. People with average incomes also enjoyed tea and dim sum. Early every morning, customers visited inexpensive restaurants that offered filled steamed buns and hot tea. During the mid-morning, students and government employees ordered two or three kinds of dim sum and ate as they read their newspapers. In the late morning, people working at small businesses visited restaurants for breakfast and to use
10830-508: The status of emperor , sometimes dealt with each other on terms of diplomatic equality out of pragmatic concern. This concept of "sharing the Mandate of Heaven" as "sibling states" was the result of the brief balance of power. After the reunification of China by the Song dynasty, the Song embarked on a special effort to denounce such arrangements. The Southern regimes generally had more stable and effective government during this period. Even
10944-525: The teahouses, travelers selected their preferred snacks from carts. Visitors to tea houses often socialized as they ate, and business people negotiated deals over dim sum. During the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), the Tea and Horses Bureau was established to monitor tea production and improve tea quality. The improvements in tea quality also led to teahouse improvements. Cantonese dim sum culture developed rapidly during
11058-442: The tenth century At that time, travelers would frequent teahouses for small-portion meals with tea called " yum cha " or "tea" meals. Yum cha includes two related concepts. The first, 一盅兩件 , translates literally as "one cup, two pieces". This refers to the custom of serving teahouse customers two delicately made food items, savory or sweet, to complement their tea. The second, 點心 , which means dim sum, translates literally to "touch
11172-487: The term " dim sum " remains unclear and contested. Some references state that the term originated in the Eastern Jin dynasty (317 AD–420 AD). According to one legend, to show soldiers gratitude after battles, a general had civilians make buns and cakes to send to the front lines. "Gratitude" or 點點心意 ( pinyin : diǎn diǎn xīn yì ; Jyutping : dim2 dim2 sam1 ji3 ), later shortened to 點心 , of which dim sum
11286-636: The traditional character set used in Taiwan ( TC ) and the set used in Hong Kong ( HK ). Most Chinese-language webpages now use Unicode for their text. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommends the use of the language tag zh-Hant to specify webpage content written with traditional characters. In the Japanese writing system , kyujitai are traditional forms, which were simplified to create shinjitai for standardized Japanese use following World War II. Kyūjitai are mostly congruent with
11400-985: The traditional characters in Chinese, save for minor stylistic variation. Characters that are not included in the jōyō kanji list are generally recommended to be printed in their traditional forms, with a few exceptions. Additionally, there are kokuji , which are kanji wholly created in Japan, rather than originally being borrowed from China. In the Korean writing system , hanja —replaced almost entirely by hangul in South Korea and totally replaced in North Korea —are mostly identical with their traditional counterparts, save minor stylistic variations. As with Japanese, there are autochthonous hanja, known as gukja . Traditional Chinese characters are also used by non-Chinese ethnic groups. The Maniq people living in Thailand and Malaysia use Chinese characters to write
11514-518: The ubiquitous Unicode standard gives equal weight to simplified and traditional Chinese characters, and has become by far the most popular encoding for Chinese-language text. There are various input method editors (IMEs) available for the input of Chinese characters . Many characters, often dialectical variants, are encoded in Unicode but cannot be inputted using certain IMEs, with one example being
11628-490: The variety of thin wrappers used in both sweet and savory items. If we concentrate only on the changes and developments in the variety of wrappers, the main types of dim sum wrappers during the 1920s included such things as raised (for filled buns), wheat starch, shao mai (i.e., egg dough), crystal bun, crispy batter, sticky rice, and boiled dumpling wrappers. By the 1930s, the varieties of wrappers commonly used by chefs included puff pastry, Cantonese short pastry, and so on, for
11742-421: The water temperature. Once satisfied, these guests were presented with a pencil and a booklet listing the available dim sum. A waiter would then tear their orders out of the booklet so that the kitchen could pan-fry, steam, bake, or deep-fry these dishes on demand. Customers dined upstairs in privacy and comfort. Servers carefully balanced the dishes on their arms or arranged them on trays as they climbed up and down
11856-587: The words for simplified and reduced are homophonous in Standard Chinese , both pronounced as jiǎn . The modern shapes of traditional Chinese characters first appeared with the emergence of the clerical script during the Han dynasty c. 200 BCE , with the sets of forms and norms more or less stable since the Southern and Northern dynasties period c. the 5th century . Although
11970-490: Was a center of artistic excellence. The period is noted for the vitality of its poetry and for its economic prosperity. Commerce grew so quickly that there was a shortage of metallic currency. This was partly addressed by the creation of bank drafts, or "flying money" ( feiqian ), as well as by certificates of deposit. Wood block printing became common during this period, 500 years before Johannes Gutenberg 's press. The Ten Kingdoms were: Only ten are traditionally listed, hence
12084-412: Was a prolonged period of multiple political divisions in Chinese imperial history. Traditionally, the era is seen as beginning with the fall of the Tang dynasty in 907 and reaching its climax with the founding of the Song dynasty in 960. In the following 19 years, Song gradually subdued the remaining states in South China, but the Liao dynasty still remained in China's north (eventually succeeded by
12198-493: Was due partly because people found the preparation of dim sum dishes to be time-consuming and preferred the convenience of dining out and eating a large variety of baked, steamed, pan-fried, deep-fried, and braised foods. Dim sum continued to develop and also spread southward to Hong Kong . Although dim sum is normally considered Cantonese, it includes many additional influences. Over thousands of years, as people in China migrated in search of different places to live, they carried
12312-478: Was established in modern-day Jiangsu , Anhui , and Jiangxi . It was founded by Yang Xingmi , who became a Tang dynasty military governor in 892. The capital was initially at Guangling (present-day Yangzhou ) and later moved to Jinling (present-day Nanjing ). The kingdom fell in 937 when it was taken from within by the founder of the Southern Tang . The Wuyue was the longest-lived (907–978) and among
12426-423: Was formally absorbed into the Song dynasty. Although more stable than northern China as a whole, southern China was also torn apart by warfare. Wu quarreled with its neighbours, a trend that continued as Wu was replaced with Southern Tang. In the 940s Min and Chu underwent internal crises which Southern Tang handily took advantage of, destroying Min in 945 and Chu in 951. Remnants of Min and Chu, however, survived in
12540-518: Was in the service of the Later Liang (the successor of the Tang in North China). Gao's successors claimed the title of King of Nanping after the fall of the Later Liang in 924. It was a small and weak kingdom, and thus tried to maintain good relations with each of the Five Dynasties. The kingdom fell to advancing armies of the Song in 963. Former Shu (907–925) was founded after the fall of
12654-473: Was named regional military governor by the Tang court in 896, and named himself the Prince of Chu with the fall of the Tang in 907. This status as the Prince of Chu was confirmed by the Southern Tang in 927. The Southern Tang absorbed the state in 951 and moved the royal family to its capital in Nanjing , although Southern Tang rule of the region was temporary, as the next year former Chu military officers under
12768-708: Was originally based on local foods. As dim sum continued to develop, chefs introduced influences and traditions from other regions of China. Cantonese dim sum has a very broad range of flavors, textures, cooking styles, and ingredients and can be classified into regular items, seasonal offerings, weekly specials, banquet dishes, holiday dishes, house signature dishes, and travel-friendly items, as well as breakfast or lunch foods and late-night snacks. Some estimates claim that there are at least two thousand types of dim sum in total across China, but only about forty to fifty types are commonly sold outside of China. There are over one thousand dim sum dishes originating from Guangdong alone,
12882-410: Was the successor state of Wu as Li Bian (Emperor Liezu) took the state over from within in 937. Expanding from the original domains of Wu , it eventually took over Yin, Min, and Chu, holding present-day southern Anhui, southern Jiangsu, much of Jiangxi, Hunan, and eastern Hubei at its height. The kingdom became nominally subordinate to the expanding Song in 961 and was invaded outright in 975, when it
12996-441: Was within his region of influence. In 904, he executed Emperor Zhaozong of Tang and made Zhaozong's 13-year-old son Emperor Ai of Tang a subordinate ruler. Three years later, he induced the boy emperor to abdicate in his favour. He then proclaimed himself emperor, thus beginning the Later Liang . In the final years of the Tang dynasty, rival warlords declared independence in the provinces they governed—not all of which recognized
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