Chinese Food in Malaysia

Bah Kut Teh, Kai fan, Dim Sum, Tai Chow

The unique appeal of Chinese food is its vast menu. Just as the Chinese will eat anything
with their backs facing the sun, the cooks will cook it in every conceivable way. For
example, there are countless variations revolving on one simple theme of noodles. Give it
a little gravy and some salted anchovies, it’s called ‘Pan Mee’; fry it over a flaming wok
with some soy sauce and it becomes ‘Char Keow Teow’; marinate the noodles in rich oil
with prawns and it’s called ‘Hokkien Mee’; the list goes on.

While Chinese food is generally mild in taste, the Malaysian Chinese have innovated and
produced dishes with a touch of Indian and Malay cooking, creating food that can be
equally as spicy. Chopsticks are the preferred method to eat and should be used correctly;
not crossed in the centre and used in an ‘X’ motion.

Chicken and pork is extremely popular but exotic meats such as venison, frogs, shark
fins, snails and even the occasional lizard are used. Chinese food is probably the most
varied in Malaysia and best of all, it’s everywhere – from hawker stalls to ‘kopitiams’
(shop lot restaurants decked with the barest furnishings) and fancy restaurants to the
humble Chinese home.

Here are some dishes to sample:

Bah Kut Teh

 A truly Malaysian-Chinese dish, Bah Kut Teh
originated from Klang a few decades ago from Klang in Selangor state. It was prepared
by a stall owner under a bridge for coolies in the area who smoked opium. As their taste
buds were affected by the drug, they lacked their sense of taste. What the stall owner did
was boil pork ribs and intestines in strong Chinese medical herbs, creating a stew that
was ripe with aroma. From there, Bah Kut Teh caught on and became a nation-wide
phenomenon.

Today, there is even Chik Kut Teh, a chicken-based version of the stew but it is
considered a pale simulacrum of the original. Bah Kut Teh is usually eaten with a bowl of
rice and drunk with tea as the dish is quite oily. Bah Kut Teh is so good, that Chinese will
drive from one state to the other to find a stall that serves it well. It is widely available in
most states but the best still comes from its birthplace – Klang.

Kai Fan

The perennial Chinese favourite, Kai Fan or

‘Chicken Rice’ is cooked and enjoyed by Chinese all over the world, originating first
from Hainan province in China. Although there are many variations of the meat from
steamed white chicken to barbequed pork, roasted chicken remains the most popular.

First, the chicken is meticulously marinated (whole) and then roasted in an oven until
crispy brown. The rice, on the other hand, is cooked with the leftover stock in a pot,
sometimes with a touch of butter. Finally, cucumber slices are placed together with the
chicken and rice to make Kai Fan. Over the years, the Chinese have innovated to serve
other things instead of chicken such as roasted duck and curried boar.

Dim Sum
 A popular breakfast, Dim Sum refers to a
collection of meats and savoury items put on small saucers, kept hot in bamboo baskets
and served ala carte via a push-cart tray. Patrons of restaurant then choose which kinds of
dishes they want and pick the baskets from the tray.

Some of the popular dishes include ‘Siew Mai’, roasted pork balls, ‘Wu Kok’, crispy yam
dumplings and ‘Har Gau’, whole shrimps wrapped in a floury package.

Tai Chow

Tai Chow isn’t a dish but merely a reference to a

wide range of food cooked on-the-fly. Patrons make their choices from a menu and the
chef then cooks it on a flaming wok to serve it fresh and hot.

From fried rice to glass noodles and steamed fish with ginger to sweet-and-sour pork ribs,
Tai Chow is the easiest way to sample Chinese cuisine at one go.

More Dining in Asia:

Thailand Restaurants: Bangkok Restaurants, Pattaya Restaurants, Hua Hin Restaurants,

Chiang Mai Restaurants, Phuket Restaurants, Koh Samui Restaurants, Krabi Restaurants
Malaysia Restaurants: Kuala Lumpur Restaurants, Penang Restaurants, Langkawi
Restaurants, Malacca RestaurantsHong Kong Restaurants
Indonesia Restaurants: Jakarta Restaurants, Bali Restaurants, Bintan Island Restaurants

India Restaurants: Mumbai Restaurants, New Delhi Restaurants

More Asia Restaurants: Beijing Restaurants, Shanghai Restaurants, Hong Kong
Restaurants, Singapore Restaurants, Hanoi Restaurants, Saigon Restaurants, Siem Reap
Restaurants
 27 Tanggungjawab semua rakyat - aman damai , memanjangkan jangka hayat
Tuliskan cara-cara menjaga persekitaran kawasan kamu.
Rumah tempat tinggal / kediaman yang paling selesa
rumahku syurgaku
i. kita perlu bekerjasama untuk menjaga persekitaran kawasan sekolah
ii. sampah sarap perlu dibersihkan / dibakar dalam lubang sampah
n menggelakkan pembiakan lalat yang membawa penyakit
iii. mengumpul tin-tin kosong / tayar buruk / botol-botol dan timbus dalam lubang
n menggelakkan pembiakan nyamuk aedes
iv. menanam pokok-pokok bunga / buah-buahan dipersekitaran untuk kesegaran
pemandangan dan kecantikan.
v. mengamalkan budaya bersih semasa keluar dan masuk ke rumah supaya tidak ada
jangkitan kuman
persekitaran yang bersih, penghuni sihat dan ceria
\
Malaysian Chinese in traditional Chinese costumes hold a memorial ceremony for
the Confucius prior to the premiere of the film "Confucius" in Kuala
Lumpur, capital of Malaysia, March 3, 2010. The activity was organised by
the Young Malaysians Movement to promote the wearing of traditional
Chinese costumes. (Xinhua/Chong Voon Chung)
Malaysian Chinese in traditional Chinese costumes hold a memorial ceremony for the
Confucius prior to the premiere of the film "Confucius" in Kuala Lumpur,
capital of Malaysia, March 3, 2010. The activity was organised by the Young
Malaysians Movement to promote the wearing of traditional Chinese costumes.
(Xinhua/Chong Voon Chung)

Malaysian Chinese in traditional Chinese costumes hold a memorial ceremony for

the Confucius prior to the premiere of the film "Confucius" in Kuala
Lumpur, capital of Malaysia, March 3, 2010. The activity was organised by
the Young Malaysians Movement to promote the wearing of traditional
Chinese costumes. (Xinhua/Chong Voon Chung)

Malaysian Chinese in traditional Chinese costumes held a memorial ceremony for the
Confucius prior to the premiere of the film "Confucius" in Kuala Lumpur, capital of
Malaysia, March 3, 2010.

The activity was organised by the Young Malaysians Movement to promote the wearing
of traditional Chinese costumes.
Cheongsam
Two women wear cheongsam in this 1930s Shanghai advertisement.

The cheongsam is a body-hugging (modified in Shanghai) one-piece Chinese dress for

women; the male version is the changshan. It is known in Mandarin Chinese as the qípáo
(旗袍) Wade-Giles ch'i-p'ao, and is also known in English as a mandarin gown. The
stylish and often tight-fitting cheongsam or qipao (chipao) that is most often associated
with today was created in the 1920s in Shanghai and was made fashionable by socialites
and upperclass women.

Chinese language usage

The English loanword cheongsam comes from chèuhngsàam, the Cantonese
pronunciation of the Shanghainese term zǎnze or zansae (長衫, 'long shirt/dress'), by
which the original tight-fitting form was first known. The Shanghainese name was
somewhat in contrast with usage in Mandarin and other Chinese dialects, where
chángshān (the Mandarin pronunciation of 長衫) refers to an exclusively male dress (see
changshan) and the female version is known as a qipao.

In Hong Kong, where many Shanghai tailors fled to after the Communist takeover of the
Mainland, the word chèuhngsàam may refer to either male or female garments. The word
keipo (qipao) is either a more formal term for the female chèuhngsàam, or is used for the
two-piece cheongsam variant that is popular in China. Traditionally, usage in Western
countries mostly followed the original Shanghainese usage and applies the Cantonese-
language name cheongsam to a garment worn by women.

History
Ladies of Chinese Imperial Court in Qing Dynasty

A woman in the traditional loose fitting baggy qipao worn with an over jacket

When the Manchu ruled China during the Qing Dynasty, certain social strata emerged.
Among them were the Banners (qí), mostly Manchu, who as a group were called Banner
People (旗人 pinyin: qí rén). Manchu women typically wore a one-piece dress that came
to be known as the qípáo (旗袍 or banner quilt). The qipao fitted loosely and hung
straight down the body. Under the dynastic laws after 1636, all Han Chinese in the
banner system were forced to wear a queue and dress in Manchurian qipao instead of
traditional Han Chinese clothing (剃发易服), under penalty of death. However after
1644, the Manchu relinquished this edict, allowing the main populace to continue to wear
Hanfu, but gradually even they began to wear the qipao and changshan.[2] In fact, only
court officials were forbidden from wearing Ming court dress. In the following 300 years,
the qipao became the adopted clothing of the Chinese, and was eventually tailored to suit
the preferences of the population. Such was its popularity that the garment form survived
the political turmoil of the 1911 Xinhai Revolution that toppled the Qing Dynasty.

The original qipao was wide and loose. It covered most of the woman's body, revealing
only the head, hands, and the tips of the toes. The baggy nature of the clothing also
served to conceal the figure of the wearer regardless of age. With time, though, the qipao
were tailored to become more form fitting and revealing. The modern version, which is
now recognized popularly in China as the "standard" qipao, was first developed in
Shanghai after 1900, after the Qing Dynasty fell. People eagerly sought a more
modernized style of dress and transformed the old qipao to suit their tastes. Slender and
form fitting with a high cut, it contrasted sharply with the traditional qipao. However, it
was high-class courtesans and socialites in the city that would make these redesigned
tight fitting qipao popular at that time. In Shanghai it was first known as zansae or "long
dress" (長衫 = Mandarin: chángshān, Shanghainese: zansae, Cantonese: chèuhngsàam),
and it is this name that survives in English as the "cheongsam".

The modernized version is noted for accentuating the figures of women, and as such was
popular as a dress for high society. As Western fashions changed, the basic cheongsam
design changed too, introducing high-necked sleeveless dresses, bell-like sleeves, and the
black lace frothing at the hem of a ball gown. By the 1940s, cheongsam came in a wide
variety of fabrics with an equal variety of accessories.

The 1949 Communist Revolution ended the cheongsam and other fashions in Shanghai,
but the Shanghainese emigrants and refugees brought the fashion to Hong Kong where it
has remained popular. Recently there has been a revival of the Shanghainese cheongsam
in Shanghai and elsewhere in Mainland China; the Shanghainese style functions now
mostly as a stylish party dress.

Modern use
In the 1950s, women in the workforce in Hong Kong started to wear more functional
cheongsam made of wool, twill, and other materials. Most were tailor fitted and often
came with a matching jacket. The dresses were a fusion of Chinese tradition with modern
styles. Cheongsam were commonly replaced by more comfortable clothing such as
sweaters, jeans, business suits and skirts. Due to its restrictive nature, it is now mainly
worn as formal wear for important occasions. They are sometimes worn by politicians
and film artists in Taiwan and Hong Kong. They are shown in some Chinese movies such
as in the 1960s film, The World of Suzie Wong, where actress Nancy Kwan made the
cheongsam briefly fashionable in western culture. However, they are sometimes used as
Halloween costumes in some western countries. They are also commonly seen in beauty
contests, along with swim suits. Today, cheongsam are only commonly worn day-to-day
for some people—restaurant hostesses and serving staff at luxury hotels, for instance—as
uniform.
A modern style cheongsam

Women in video games are often in cheongsam, so cosplay showgirls may wear a
cheongsam in show times. These cheongsam usually made of rubber or silk, reflective in
color to catch camera focus, with short sleeves and the bottom of the cheongsam to mid-
thigh. They are commonly worn with short socks and white shoes.

Some airlines in Mainland China and Taiwan have cheongsam uniforms for their women
flight attendants and ground workers such as China Airlines, China Eastern Airlines,
Hainan Airlines, and Xiamen Airlines. They are in a plain color, hemmed to just above
the knee, with a close fitting wool suit jacket of the same color as the cheongsam. The
workers wear stockings and low heeled shoes. Their working places are often air-
conditioned so they remain cool.

A few primary schools and some secondary schools in Hong Kong, especially older
schools established by Christian missionaries, use a plain rimmed sky blue cotton and/or
dark blue velvet (for winter) cheongsam with the metal school badge right under the
stand-up collar to be closed with a metal hook and eye as the official uniform for their
female students. The schools which use this standard include True Light Girls' College,
St. Paul's Co-educational College, Heep Yunn School, St. Stephen's Girls' College, Ying
Wa Girls' School, etc. These cheongsam are usually straight, with no waist shaping, and
the cheongsam hem must reach mid-thigh. The cheongsam fit closely to the neck, and the
stiff collar is hooked closed, despite the tropical humid and hot weather. Although the
skirts have short slits, they are too narrow to allow students to walk in long strides. The
seams above the slits often split when walking and are repeatedly sewed. Many schools
also require underskirts to be worn with the cheongsam. The underskirt is a white cotton
full slip, hemmed slightly shorter than the cheongsam, and are slit at the sides like the
cheongsam, although the slits are deeper. A white cotton undershirt is often worn
underneath the cheongsam. The cheongsam's length, styling, color and sleeve length
varies between schools. Many students feel it an ordeal, yet it is a visible manifestation of
the strict discipline that is the hallmark of prestigious secondary schools in Hong Kong
and many students and their parents like that. In summer wearing this for a school day
would be sweaty and un-hygienic. Some rebellious students express their dissatisfaction
with this tradition by wearing their uniform with the stand-up collar intentionally left
unhooked or hemmed above their knees. The Ying Wa and True Light Schools have set
questionnaires to their students about uniform reforms but not passed But Madam Lau
Kam Lung Secondary School of Miu Fat Buddhist Monastery ended their cheongsam
uniform in 1990 after receiving student unions suggestions

Many waitresses in Chinese restaurants over the world wear suits and skirts but some,
especially the receptionists, wear cheongsam uniforms. These cheongsam (referred to as
qipao in China) are long, often foot-length or floor-length. They have slits high to the
waist or hip, and are usually sleeveless or have only cap sleeves. They are often made of
brightly-colored silk or satin with rich Chinese embroidery. Some nightclub waitresses,
ritual girls in ceremonies, and competitors in Chinese beauty competitions wear similar
cheongsam uniforms. They may wear pantyhose but not an underskirt so walking shows
their legs. These uniforms are considered too sexy for ordinary wear so they are worn and
kept at work. The waitresses change into casual clothes before going home.

In the 2008 Summer Olympics, cheongsams were the uniforms for the medal bearers.
They were also worn by female members of the Swedish team and of the Spanish team in
the opening ceremony, with the national colors of blue and yellow.

Changshan
Officers of the Six Companies wearing riding jackets(馬掛) over changshan.

Clan elders wearing changshan in late 2006, during a local Da Jiu festival in Hong
Kong's Tuen Mun District

In traditional Chinese dress, a changshan (simplified Chinese: 长衫; traditional Chinese:

長衫; pinyin: Chángshān literally "long shirt") is the male equivalent of the women's
cheongsam (qipao). It is also known as a changpao (chángpáo 长袍) or dagua (大褂
dàguà).

The Mandarin word changshan is cognate with the Cantonese term chèuhngsàam, which
has been borrowed into English as "cheongsam". Unlike the Mandarin term, however,
Cantonese chèuhngsàam can refer to both male and female garments, and in Hong Kong
is frequently used for the body-hugging female garment rather than for the male
changshan. The Hong Kong usage is reflected in the meaning of "cheongsam" in English,
which refers exclusively to the female garment.

History
Changshan, along with qipao, were introduced to China during the Qing Dynasty (17th
century–20th century). The Manchus in 1636 ordered that all Han Chinese should adopt
the changshan style of dress—or face harsh punishment. However, after the 1644 fall of
the Ming Dynasty, the Manchu stopped this order, and only required the court and
government officials to wear Manchu clothes. Commoners were actually still allowed to
wear the hanfu. However, over time, even the commoners freely adopted the changshan
and qipao as their own dress.[1] Thus, the traditional Chinese Hanfu style of clothing was
gradually replaced. Over time, the Manchu style gained popularity.

Changshan was formal dress for Chinese men before Western-style suits became
common in China.

The male changshan went well with the western overcoat, fedora, and scarf, and
portrayed a unique East Asian modernity.

The 1949 Communist Revolution ended the wearing of changshan and other similar
clothing in Shanghai, but Shanghainese emigrants and refugees brought the fashion to
Hong Kong where it has remained popular. Recently there has been a revival of the
Shanghainese changshan in Shanghai and elsewhere in mainland China.

Use of changshan
Changshan are traditionally worn in pictures, weddings, and other more formal
historically Chinese events. A black changshan, along with a rounded black hat, was, and
sometimes still is, the burial attire for Chinese men. Changshan are not often worn today
in mainland China, except during traditional Chinese celebrations but, with the revival of
some traditional clothing in urban mainland China, the Shanghainese style functions as a
stylish party dress (cf. Mao suit).
Chinese language
Chinese or the Sinitic language(s) (汉语／漢語 Hànyǔ; 华语／華語 Huáyǔ; 中国话／
中國話 Zhōngguóhuà; 中文 Zhōngwén) is a language family consisting of languages
mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by
the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the two branches of Sino-Tibetan family of
languages. About one-fifth of the world’s population, or over one billion people, speak
some form of Chinese as their native language. Internal divisions of Chinese are usually
perceived by their native speakers as dialects of a single Chinese language, rather than
separate languages, although this identification is considered inappropriate by some
linguists and Sinologists.

Spoken Chinese is distinguished by its high level of internal diversity, although all
spoken varieties of Chinese are tonal and analytic. There are between seven and thirteen
main regional groups of Chinese (depending on classification scheme), of which the most
spoken, by far, is Mandarin (about 850 million), followed by Wu (90 million), Cantonese
(Yue) (70 million) and Min (70 million). Most of these groups are mutually
unintelligible, although some, like Xiang and the Southwest Mandarin dialects, may share
common terms and some degree of intelligibility. Chinese is classified as a
macrolanguage with 13 sub-languages in ISO 639-3, though the identification of the
varieties of Chinese as multiple "languages" or as "dialects" of a single language is a
contentious issue.

The standardized form of spoken Chinese is Standard Mandarin (Putonghua / Guoyu /

Huayu), based on the Beijing dialect, which is part of a larger group of North-Eastern and
South-Western dialects, often taken as a separate language (see Mandarin Chinese for
more), this language can be referred to as 官话／官話 Guānhuà or 北方话／北方話
Běifānghuà in Chinese. Standard Mandarin is the official language of the People's
Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC), as well as one of four
official languages of Singapore. Chinese—de facto, Standard Mandarin—is one of the six
official languages of the United Nations. Of the other varieties, Standard Cantonese is
common and influential in Guangdong Province and Cantonese-speaking overseas
communities, and remains one of the official languages of Hong Kong (together with
English) and of Macau (together with Portuguese). Hokkien, part of the Min language
group, is widely spoken in southern Fujian, in neighbouring Taiwan (where it is known as
Taiwanese or Hoklo) and in Southeast Asia (where it dominates in Singapore and
Malaysia).

There are also some smaller groups that are not yet classified, such as: Danzhou dialect
(儋州话／儋州話), spoken in Danzhou, on Hainan Island; Xianghua (乡话／鄉話), not
to be confused with Xiang (湘), spoken in western Hunan; and Shaozhou Tuhua (韶州土
话／韶州土話), spoken in northern Guangdong. The Dungan language, spoken in
Central Asia, is very closely related to Mandarin. However, it is not generally considered
"Chinese" since it is written in Cyrillic and spoken by Dungan people outside China who
are not considered ethnic Chinese. See List of Chinese dialects for a comprehensive
listing of individual dialects within these large, broad groupings.

In general, the above language-dialect groups do not have sharp boundaries, though
Mandarin is the predominant Sinitic language in the North and the Southwest, and the
rest are mostly spoken in Central or Southeastern China. Frequently, as in the case of the
Guangdong province, native speakers of major variants overlapped. As with many areas
that were linguistically diverse for a long time, it is not always clear how the speeches of
various parts of China should be classified. The Ethnologue lists a total of 14, but the
number varies between seven and seventeen depending on the classification scheme
followed. For instance, the Min variety is often divided into Northern Min (Minbei,
Fuchow) and Southern Min (Minnan, Amoy-Swatow); linguists have not determined
whether their mutual intelligibility is small enough to sort them as separate languages.

In general, mountainous South China displays more linguistic diversity than the flat
North China. In parts of South China, a major city's dialect may only be marginally
intelligible to close neighbours. For instance, Wuzhou is about 120 miles upstream from
Guangzhou, but its dialect is more like Standard Cantonese spoken in Guangzhou, than is
that of Taishan, 60 miles southwest of Guangzhou and separated by several rivers from it
(Ramsey, 1987).

Various styles of Chinese calligraphy.