Instructions: Heat a stockpot, then add the oil and heat until it is just beginning to smoke. Saute the ginger slices, and stir-fry the shredded pork, until the color changes. Pour in the rice wine. Add the broth, mushrooms and carrot and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add the zucchini, preserved mustard greens, bean curd and cellophane noodles and simmer for 2 minutes. Stir in the seasonings and serve in a soup tureen.

This recipe yields 6 to 8 servings.

Comments: The Chinese do not really consider cellophane noodles as a "staple." Made of green mung bean starch, they are usually used as an interesting ingredient to accompany meats or other vegetables in a normal "rice meal." They are popular throughout China, Southeast Asia and Japan.

Each region of China has its own version of this soup. In Shanghai, meatballs in the soup make it a hearty meal by itself; the peppery, crunchy Sichuan (Szechwan) pickled vegetable (jar choi) transports us immediately to Sichuan (Szechwan) and to the Zhejiang (Chekiang) provinces, while the mustard greens (mui choi) place it distinctly in the southern province of Guangdong (Kwangtung).

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