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I like Grace Young's books Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge and The Breath of a Wok.  They both have very straight-foward stir-frying recipes that are well-explained and easy-to-source.  Grace is also very good at explaining wok technique.

I know a lot of EYB members also love Fuchsia Dunlop's books - I only own one, Every Grain of Rice and have not yet cooked from it so I can't personally recommend them but everything I hear is good.

Both of these writers are very knowledgebale, write well, produce authentic recipes (or at least they seem so to someone who has never been to China) - and neither of them has a TV show.

If you want to see the most popular Chinese cookbooks with EYB members, you can filter by Chinese in Ethnicity and sort by Popularity.

Do you have a favorite style or region?  When you cook, do you have the time needed to follow a very detailed recipe?

For example, for Szechuan cookery, Mrs. Chiang's Szechwan Cookbook is a wonderful resource.  The results are delicious and authentic.  However the recipes often take a while to prepare due to having many detail-oriented steps.  As a result, I turn to The Good Food of Szechwan by Robert Delfs far more frequently.  The recipes are very good and do not seem westernized but are much simpler to execute than Mrs. Chiang's.

(Note to EYB - there are two entries in the Library for The Good Food of Szechwan.  One says the author is Robert Delfe.  The other says the author is Robert Delfs.  The second entry is correct.  Also, both entries are categorized as "general" instead of Chinese.)

My own go-to general Chinese Cookbook is The Chinese Cookbook by Craig Claiborne and Virginia Lee.  It covers a lot of territory, the results are always good, and nothing is very fussy to make.  (Don't get me wrong.  I do not like dumbed-down recipes.  But I usually do not have the time to do things like peel fresh water chestnuts and cut them into matchstick pieces, no matter how how much of a revelation fresh water chestnuts indeed are.)  If you don't mind hunting down a used copy, you might like The People's Republic of China Cookbook by Nobuko Sakamoto.  The recipes are straightforward and reliable.  One thing I really like about this cookbook is that it divides the recipes by region and it has a good number of dishes that I have not seen in restaurants or in other cookbooks.

One of the nice things about Chinese cookery is that generally you do not need a lot of equipment.  A good sharp knife, maybe a cleaver (for whacking through poultry bones, mostly), a wok, a wok shovel (for stir frying), and a cover for your wok are enough to do almost anything.  

I hope this helps.

Great recommendations PinchOfSalt. Just wanted to let you know I fixed the author and ethnicity on those books -- thanks for bringing it to our attention!

Thanks to all of you!  I keep saying that I'm not going to buy any more cookbooks, but all of the suggestions sound good.  Going to make a few purchases tonight, I just know it!

My favorite:

1. Barbara Tropp (NOT the china Moon book)

2. Martin Yan's Chinatown

3. Bear and Fish family. Chinese....but really different and updated.

Hi all from Australia

I just discovered that I can purchase this book 

The Peoples Republic of China Cookbook 

cheaply from Better World Books so I have ordered one.

Best wishes

Neil

Westy2:  >> My favorite: 1. Barbara Tropp (NOT the china Moon book)  <<

She wrote two books, so that would be The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking.