[alf]

Minced Garlic
Salt
Sugar
Fine ground white pepper
Soy sauce
Sasame see oil
Dried Chili peppers
Rice wine
Corn Starch
Oyster Sauce

That is about all you need to make most stuff and pretty much all i had by my side when i chef'ed in a Chinese kitchen. As my teacher said, there are only 5 basic flavors, it is how you mix them up to create an infinite blend of tastes.

5 spice works great as a rub for BBQ and roasting meat, which is mostly what i use it for.

I miss cooking.

Added:
Cooking in a pro Chinese kitchen is very minimilist.
1 Wok
1 Wok Ladle
1 pair of long chopsticks/thongs for frying
1 Chinese Chef Knife (looks like a cleaver but thinner and lighter)
1 Small paring knife optional (to take care of small stuff, most guys i worked with just had the big chef knife)

that is about it for hardware, i could not help but wonder everytime i see my friends that like to cook buy all sorts of gadgets that get in the way of actually cooking.