Fragrant Knives Blog

You may see other articles refer to Chinese chef’s knives - 菜刀 (pronounced caidao/choidou in Mandarin and Cantonese respectively) - as Chinese cleavers. Here at Fragrant Knives, we feel that the association of the word ‘cleaver’ with meat cleavers in English leads to a misunderstanding of what the knife is truly for.

Yangjiang really has no right to be as beautiful as it is. It’s a tier-four city of a few million people set in the countryside a couple of hours from its provincial capital, an old city but never one of particular cultural significance. Within China, people might know it for fermented black beans, or blade production, which it’s been the centre of for hundreds of years. Either way, it’s not a place that tourists often visit.