In more luxurious cases, Chinese desert thorn, dried mushrooms and shrimps are added.

The quality of the mutton thus plays a major role in the hotpot experience.

Today, many mutton hotpot restaurants divide the meat into a dozen categories based on which part of a sheep it is cut from.

The rear legs are full of muscle, chewy and especially preferred by diners hailing from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

An experienced chef can slice the meat so thin that people can read the words of a book through the flesh.

In the old days, restaurants in the capital only started serving mutton hotpot from Mid-Autumn Festival (the 15th day of the eighth lunar month).

Business often waned after Spring Festival.

Restaurant employees would have to find a new job after Dragon Boat Festival (the fifth day of the fifth lunar month), when business came to a halt.

Nowadays, however, mutton hotpot has become a perennial favorite of China's gourmands, with technological development in mutton production allowing for year-round supplies of fresh meat across the country.