China contains 34 provinces and 56 peoples. Thus the foods vary from region to region greatly. It is really hard to define a typical Chinese dish since every person who comes from different parts of China would hold different opinions. My hometown is Hainan, which is the southernmost province of China. The typical food in Hainan is very different from the food in north China, but somewhat similar to the food in Southeast Asia.

Hainan people like eating rice noodles. The dish I want to introduce is a typical Hainan rice noodle— Bao Luo Rice Noodle. It is really popular in Hainan and people usually have it as breakfasts. Generally, Bao Luo rice noodle has two kinds: with or without soup. The basic composition is: rice noodle, beef jerky/pork, fried peanuts, bamboo shoot and caraway. People cook the soup and the noodle separately. The soup is cooked with beef bone and the rice noodle is boiled in water. When a customer orders one, cook puts the rice noodle in a bowl, then put beef jerky or pork, fried peanuts, bamboo shoot, etc. on it, and finally pour soup (for the kind with soup) or a special sauce (for the kind without soup) into the bowl. The feature of Bao Luo rice noodle is that its soup is a little bit sweet, which is corresponding to dishes in southern China are usually kind of sweet.