Abstract: To investigate the chemical characteristics of PM_2.5 emission from Chinese cooking, a total of 29 PM_2.5 samples were measured at six types of catering locations (e.g., residential cooking, hot pot restaurant, barbecue restaurant, canteen, Chinese restaurant and catering enterprise) in Chengdu, Wuhan and Tianjin City, China. All collected source samples were analyed for inorganic elements, ions, organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were measured for all collected samples. Mass fractions of the major chemical components in PM_2.5 emission from cooking were ranked in the order of OC, EC, Ca, Al, Fe, NH₄⁺, SO₄^2-, NO₃^-, Na⁺, K⁺, Mg²⁺ and Cl^-. OC is the perdominant component of PM_2.5, with mass fraction in the ranges of 41.67% to 57.91%. Among the different PAHs in PM_2.5, PAHs with 3 rings and the 4 rings accounted for a relatively high proportion, including fluorene (Flu), phenanthrene (Phe), fluoranthene (Fla) and pyrene (Pyr). Ratios of OC/EC for these PM_2.5 samples ranged from 15.99 to 67.61, which are higher than other routine emission sources. Ratios of Fla/(Fla+Pyr) and InP/(InP+BghiP) are relatively stable for PM_2.5 emission from cooking, with values in the range of 0.45 to 0.55, such species ratio can also be used to distinguish cooking emissions from other sources.