The cuisine based itself largely on the three local cooking styles of Yangzhou , Nanjing and Suzhou , all within Jiangsu Province . While emphasizing the original flavours of well-chosen materials, it features carefully selected ingredients. In addition, the artistic shape and bright colors of the dishes add more ornamental value. Yangzhou cuisine is essentially a combination of the best elements of northern and southern cooking.

Yangzhou was a military fort and a cultural center in ancient times, and was one of the most flourishing commercial cities in China . Extravagant consumption stimulated the thriving catering trade and the development of cookery. Every rich salt merchant employed a skilled cook who specialized in cooking a certain delicious dish. When a salt merchant treated his guests to a banquet, he often borrowed cooks from other salt merchants. In this way, the cooks exchanged their cooking skills and improved the cooking in Yangzhou .