the biggest restaurant in China

China is a country in a period of rapid transition. The country’s enormity means that it is increasingly flexing its muscle on the world stage, showing tremendous economic and political power and providing over a billion potential ‘consumers’ to the international market. It has a GDP of almost $2 trillion and is one of the world’s largest exporters. With increasing urbanisation and a loosening of state controls, the Chinese way of life is transforming itself minute by minute.

Today every major city has a Chinatown (and many smaller ones too); a place where locals head for a dim sum or a Peking duck fix. Though Chinese cuisine is so widespread, few know of the culture and lives of the people who actually cook and serve this food.

Chinese culture places great importance on food with every ritual and milestone marked by special dishes and elaborate banquets. So to usher in the Chinese New Year, Asian Food Channel is showcasing an exclusive mini-series set to tell the tale of new China through the biggest Chinese restaurant in the world.

The 5000-seater West Lake Restaurant, in the city of Changsha, China, is the setting for this four-part documentary series. Old traditions and new money come together in this vibrant and colourful exploration of modern China. Central to the story is the restaurant’s owner, the unstoppable Mrs Qin, a Communist Party member with a love of singing.

Between mouth-watering - and ‘exotic’- Chinese food and the rousing Communist songs sung by the staff, the series examines how China has been transformed over the last few decades. It also poses the question: in this new affluent and ambitious China, who is thriving and who is left behind?

With many of the local’s most important life events taking place on the West Lake’s stage, it is through these celebrations- a wedding between a wealthy property developer and his beautiful bride, a baby banquet and a grandmother’s birthday party - that the series explores the struggles and hopes of Chinese people today.