Born in Taiwan to Chinese parents, Ching's culinary influences stem from the traditional cooking styles of her grandparents, who came from a farming community in southern Taiwan.

At the age of five, Ching emigrated to South Africa with her family, where she was exposed to a wholly different diet and climate. The family moved again, to London, when Ching was 11.

Ching promotes simple Chinese cookery through her television programmes and cookery books. Her approach is to demystify the notion that Chinese cooking is complicated and time consuming by demonstrating traditional recipes that can be easily adapted for the home cook in Britain.