This article only represents the author's own views.
A Chinese saying goes that eating is the “first order business for ordinary people.” In a country of highly diversified cuisines and where dining is an integral part of the culture, food cooked at your table in hotpots is one of the oldest forms, with a history of 1,700 years.
Those same boiling cauldrons have become all the rage in recent years, spawning a new generation of restaurants catering to a wide range of tastes, serving up food at just about any time of day. Big names include veteran Dong Lai Shun, as well as the newer Haidilao (6862.HK) and Xiabuxiabu (0520.HK), which are listed in Hong Kong. Haidilao has become synonymous with hotpot in China these days, with explosive growth that has heated its value to more than 100 billion yuan ($15.7 billion).