Careful cutting is an outstanding feature of Chinese cuisine. All ingredients are cut into the same size to ensure even cooking of all the food with good flavor and attractive appearance.

Here are some methods in cutting food:

Peeling - taking the skin away, mostly in vegetables, before cutting.
Slicing - cutting vertically down the ingredient in thin uniform strips in 2 inches long and around 1 inch wide and about 1/8 inch thick.
Shredding - cutting ingredients into match stick or bean sprout size.
Dicing - cutting into cube sizes 2 cm x 2 cm in length and width. Chopping or mincing - cutting into small pieces, as in ground meat.