China does not have a single dessert tradition — the country spans 56 recognized ethnic groups and vast geographic variation, producing regional sweet traditions that differ significantly in ingredients, technique, and the role sweets play in a meal. Unlike Western dessert culture, where sweets are typically served at the end of a meal, Chinese sweet preparations are often served throughout the meal, between courses, or as standalone snacks rather than as a final course.

Northern China, centered on Beijing, relies on wheat-based preparations, sesame paste, and hawthorn. Candied hawthorn skewers — bingtang hulu — are a common street food. Stuffed pastries, red bean paste buns, and flaky mooncakes are central to festival eating, particularly the Mid-Autumn Festival, when mooncakes are exchanged as gifts across China and in Chinese diaspora communities worldwide.

Eastern China, particularly Shanghai and the Yangtze Delta, favors glutinous rice preparations. Tang yuan — glutinous rice balls filled with sesame paste, red bean, or peanut and served in sweet broth — are eaten during the Lantern Festival and Winter Solstice. Nian gao, a sticky rice cake, is associated with Lunar New Year celebrations.

Cantonese dessert culture, centered in Guangzhou and Hong Kong, is the most internationally recognized Chinese dessert tradition due to the spread of Cantonese immigration and dim sum culture globally. Cantonese sweet dim sum includes egg tarts, custard buns, sesame balls, and mango pudding. Tong sui — sweet soups made with red bean, lotus seed, tofu, or herbal ingredients — are a distinct category of Cantonese sweet preparation served warm or cold.

Xinjiang in the northwest, with its Uyghur population, has a dessert tradition more closely tied to Central Asian food culture — dried fruits, nuts, nang bread with honey, and milk-based sweets that differ substantially from Han Chinese preparations.