ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the globalization of Chinese cuisine, and offers a tew notes about the amazing social-political backgrounds of the "failed" restaurant owners. It suggests that the “Chinese restaurant” in the United States is arguably the best arena for people to observe, understand and learn about the contested meanings of ethnicity, ethnic boundaries, and ethnic relations. Some readers, long-term Chinese restaurant customers included, may be confused by “Northern Chinese” cuisine, which has been served in restaurants with a diversity of names, referring to many different regions of China. Many are even geographically in South China, although Chinese immigrants who opened restaurants in the United States would usually think “Northern Chinese cuisine” means “Peking cuisine.” Many of the well-educated young men started a “North Chinese restaurant” in the United States due to global political circumstances, particularly the interplay among China, Taiwan, and the United States.
