Chinese Hotpot On a cold winters night in Beijing, there is nothing like a good hot pot to warm you up. There are restaurants which specialize in hot pot. Hot pot is a cook your own style of food. You are given a charcoal fire, usually one per table but sometimes as pictured below, one per person. You then order meats and vegies which come raw. You dip them in the boiling water of your hot pot to cook. You use one set of chopsticks to put the raw materials in and another to pull them out. You dip the cooked goods in soy sauce and chili if you like. In the end you are left with a nice hot soup. You can find hot pot restaurants in the alleyways of Qianmen south of Tiananmen Square, although they are dotted around the city. Look for the hot pots! Hot pot is an integral part of north China cuisine and should not be missed. Firing up a charcoal hotpot with an electric fan. More on hotpot from journalist Ron Gluckman