CHINESE Western cuisine is proudly spicy.Its distinctive flavor comes from red-hot chili peppers, an ingredient first brought to China by Spanish merchants in the 17th century. But Sichuan cuisine was hot long before the Spaniards arrived.A collection of poems from the ancient state of Chu entitled Elegy to the South reveals that natives of the area have been cooking with Sichuan pepper, cassia(local cinnamon), wormwood and other spices since 300 BC.