In Shanghai, the family meal revolves around fàn (plain white rice, the neutral base) and cài (shared dishes placed at the center, picked at with chopsticks, taking a little of each). Alongside the meal exists a whole universe of diǎnxīn (点心, "what touches the heart"): steamed dumplings, sweet soups, street snacks and teahouse treats, eaten in the afternoon, early morning, or late at night. Eileen Chang, a refined city dweller of the concessions, lived between these two worlds—the family table heavy with vermilion sauce and the small bites nibbled while watching the street through the window.

The soul of Shanghai's benbang (本帮, "local") cuisine: a marriage of light and dark soy sauce with rock sugar, caramelized until it coats the meat in a glossy, reddish-brown lacquer. Sweet, salty, and deep all at once—the very color of a 1940s Shanghai table.