Red Chile is a generic term for a mildly hot pepper, usually small in size. Can be used for hot red chile pepper sause. Dried chiles are used more for their aroma than for their heat. They lend deep, smoky fragrance and mild spiciness to chili oils, condiments, and braised or stir-fried dishes. For stir-frying, you typically snip the whole dried chiles into thumbnail-sized segments (with seeds shaken out), and add them to the shimmering hot oil in the wok along with the other aromatics like garlic, ginger, scallion, etc. In Sichuan regional cooking, dried chiles are often paired with Sichuan peppercorns.
There are many varieties of Chinese chiles, For general cooking, look for 1 to 2 inch long "facing heaven" Tianjin chilies (cháo tiān jiāo), or 4 to 5 inch long Erjingtiao Sichuan chilies (èr jīng tiáo), which have a fruity, rich fragrance and mild heat.