Hot pot originated in Chongqing. It is said that boatmen in Chongqing invented this way of eating while cooking in order to drive away the cold. Later, some people added cows to it and gradually became the originator of today's hot pot.

Speaking of the history of hot pot, there are two kinds of opinions at present: one is in the Three Kingdoms period or Yang Di era, when the "bronze tripod" was the predecessor of hot pot; Another way of saying this is that hot pot began in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the "dou" in unearthed cultural relics refers to hot pot, which has a history of 1900 years in China.

Later, after the Han Dynasty, through the study of unearthed cultural relics, the Eastern Han Dynasty cultural relic "Dou Yong" (bronze hotpot) was discovered. Later, during the excavation of the tomb of Hou faint in the sea, a boiler burning fire was found among the funerary objects, which proved the appearance of hot pot.

Note: Some emperors in ancient times had a certain complex about hot pot. Kublai Khan in Yuan Shizu likes to eat hot pot. One winter, the army suddenly left. He was hungry and insisted on eating mutton. In desperation, the clever chef sliced the mutton, blanched it in a boiling pot, and added seasoning, chopped green onion and other things. Kublai Khan was full of praise after eating it.

Later, when he became emperor, he still remembered this dish and named it "instant-boiled mutton". According to legend, Yang Shen, a writer of Ming Dynasty, went to hongzhi emperor Imperial Garden for dinner with his father Yang Tinghe when he was a child. There was a hot pot of instant-boiled mutton at the banquet, and charcoal was burning in the fire. Hongzhi emperor took this opportunity to get a pair of couplets, which read "Carbon black is as red as snow", and asked the ministers to tell him that he was right. Ministers suddenly looked at each other.

At this time, young Yang Shen quietly recited couplets to his father: "Yellow rice and white frost". His father then read his son's antithesis to the emperor, who was very happy and immediately enjoyed a glass of royal wine. Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty was also fascinated by hot pot. He has been to Jiangnan many times and there are hot pots everywhere.

According to legend, in the first month of the first year of Jiaqing, he held a grand banquet in the palace. More than 1550 hot pots were served at the banquet, and more than 5,000 people were invited to taste it, making it the largest hot pot feast in history.