The Knife and Words, written by Wang Anyi, tells the extraordinary life story of the famous Huaiyang Cuisine chef Chen Cheng. Born in “the ice city” Harbin to parents from Yangzhou (where Huaiyang Cuisine originated) and growing up in a small, dark back room in Shanghai with his refugee aunt, Chen Cheng first picked up cooking skills from cooks from villages of Yangzhou. Later, he was apprenticed to a master chef in Shanghai before working as a top personal chef in Flushing, New York City. Nurtured by Chinese culture and inspired by delicacies across the world, he mastered the art of cooking as he made life-changing decisions and experienced the vicissitudes of time. The novel both chronicles the life of a chef and serves as a multi-perspective record of the community.