This topic is, I think, due a revival. It was a great idea but it is 18 years since the OP, hzrt8w, started it and many things have changed.
The OP hasn't posted for a decade and although he started off strong, posting 10 ingredients over a one week period, he then stopped for unknown reasons. He was undoubtedly very knowledgeable and a valuable member but that knowledge rarely ventured beyond Cantonese cuisine. And that often in its American interpretation.
Over the years, regional Chinese cuisine has become better known and ingredients once impossible or difficult to obtain outside of China are now readily available in many places.
Difficulties in the past may account for a couple of anomolies in early posts. The Shaoxing wine in the first post is not from Shaoxing, but is a Taiwanese brand. Presumably, that is what was more easily located in California in 2006.
A more recent, dedicated topic on Shaoxing wine is here.
The doubanjiang shown is also a Cantonese version, not the original Sichuan version. While Taiwanese Shaoxing is not so different from the real thing, Cantonese doubanjiang is very different from Sichuanese. As described, the Cantonese version is made from soy beans. Sichuan doubanjiang is made from fava beans. It is also aged longer and is usually considerably spicier.
The topic continues with lots of questions not all of which got answered. There are a couple to which I know the answers but missed at the time - e.g. the mysterious 'Chinese potatoes'.
Unfortunately, the questioners have long since stopped posting so the answers may no longer be required. If they are, please ask again.
Some questions may not have been answered due to linguistic difficulties in understanding the transcriptions used.
Mandarin has an official transcription system, Pinyin but other Chinese varieties, including Cantonese and Toishanese don't. So, some people make up their own. Sometimes decipherable; often not. Also, even in Mandarin, often the only way to be sure is to see the Chinese characters; not always possible, I realise.
Moving forward, I will give both the SImplified Chinese names used in mainland China and the Traditional Chinese used in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and among a large but rapidly shrinking proportion of the Chinese diaspora. If I only post one set of characters then the simplified and traditional are the same.
I will give common Cantonese and other local names when relevant, if and when I know them. Please note only approx 4.5% of Chinese people speak Cantonese.
I will not be following the original model for layout but will try to include all the information available to me.
