Chinese Red Bean Pastries - If you’ve ever been to Chinatown or are acquainted with Chinese cuisine, you’ll know that red bean paste is a prevalent element in Chinese desserts. Sweet bean paste is called Dou Sha in Chinese- Dou meaning bean and Sha meaning sand.. Red bean paste is actually quite delicious. These dainty lil things are considered mooncakes in Taiwan, but as a Beijing-er, real mooncakes for me are the rich, dense cakes with a thin skin.