Making “Chinese Cuisine”: The Grand Hotel and Chuan-Yang Cuisine in Postwar Taiwan

Abstract

ABSTRACT The Grand Hotel (Yuanshan Dafandian), built in 1952, was a landmark in the Republic of China (ROC). Through an analysis of menus and the style of the Grand Hotel in Taiwan from the 1950s to the 1970s, this article reveals how war and the migration of the government influenced the formation of a new type of hybrid Chinese regional cuisine, Chuan-Yang style, presented in state banquets. It first explores how “Chinese-ness” was presented and performed in state banquets, including the space and dishes that were characteristic of Chuan-Yang cuisine. By tracing the changing definitions of “China’s great regional culinary traditions,” it then investigates why Chuan-Yang cuisine was invented in the postwar period. After comparing different interpretations of “Chinese cuisine” found in state banquets in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), this article argues that “regional cuisines” could be defined in terms beyond the geographic, and demonstrates how they embody political and social transformations.