The “Biggest Hot Pot in the World” displayed itself in front of international traders

On the morning of November 6^th, important leaders as the Party Member of the Ministry of Commerce and Assistant Minister Mr. Ren Hongbin and the Vice Mayor of Chongqing Municipal Government Mr. Xiong Xue, together with various domestic and international media, gathered in the Chongqing Intangible Cultural Heritage Big Hot Pot Experience Area to participate in the opening ceremony of the “biggest hot pot in the world”.

Being 10 meters in diameter, 1.06 meters in height and 13 tons in weight, the “biggest hot pot in the world” surrounded by 56 tripod-shaped small pots, symbolizes the harmony and unity among the 56 ethnic groups of China. In order to be carried from Chongqing to Shanghai, the big hot pot was divided into eight parts and packed into one large container and one small container. After arrived in Shanghai, it was then assembled in five days and finally displayed in the Chongqing Intangible Cultural Heritage Big Hot Pot Experience Area.

This is not the first time that the “biggest hot pot in the world” makes its public appearance during an international expo: from the Philippine Chongqing Week, the China Catering Expo in Macau and the China National Sugar and Alcoholic Commodities Fair up to Milan World Expo in Italy, the “biggest hot pot in the world” never stopped.

But at the 2019 CIIE, the "biggest hot pot in the world" showed new creative features: a series of silhouettes depicting Chongqing City scenery with its buildings rised up from the middle of the hot pot; the Taiji Bagua (related to Taoist Cosmology)“Yuanyang” pot (the most common hot pot), which represents the intersection of the two rivers of Chaotianmen in Chongqing, disclosed the mountain city of Chongqing to the audience. The red phoenix suspended upon the big hot pot symbolizes "the phoenix dances for nine days", while each one of the 56 small pots placed under the big hot pot was superposed by crystal balls engraved with the name of the 56 national ethnic groups, representing the national unity among the ethnic groups in view of creating a better tomorrow.

The Vice Director of Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce Mr. Gong Gang stated that Chongqing hot pot is one of the top ten cultural symbols of Chongqing, representing a treasure of Chinese catering industry and an efficient bridge of communication between Chongqing and the world. The display of the “biggest hot pot in the world" as representative of Chongqing hotpot culture at the 2^nd China International Import Expo is conducive to promoting the Chongqing hotpot industry and to further take advantage of the international and national markets carrying out trade exchanges and brand promotion.

The Honorary President of the Chongqing Hotpot Commission of the Chinese National Restaurant Association (NRA) and Chairman of Dezhuang Group Mr. Li Dejian delivered a speech at the ceremony. He declared that they have actively implemented a new development concept adhering to innovative growth, accelerated transformation and upgrading, promoted Chongqing hot pot to let it enter a "fast lane" development, forged an industrial system characterized by category, value, brand and culture, and successfully built a "100 billion level industrial chain". At present, there are more than 100.000 hot pot stores in Chongqing, with an annual turnover of more than 400 billion yuan. Chongqing hotpot has gone out of China towards the world, covering more than 20 countries and regions such as the United States, Singapore, Russia, Australia, etc.

Following the boiling of the hot pot, the performance of 《Chuanjiang No. 1》, which embodies the hard-working spirit of the working people in the Sichuan River basin, was also staged. Then, leaders and the media present on site witnessed the official opening ceremony of the "biggest hot pot in the world" which showed itself to all traders coming from all over the world willing to learn more about it.

Chongqing Hot Pot expands the global market

At the same time, in order to vigorously promote the development of Chongqing hotpot industry and promote the "going out" and "bringing in" of Chongqing hotpot culture, a signing ceremony was held in the exhibition hall of Intangible Cultural Heritage Big Hot Pot Experience Area in the afternoon. Serving as a super platform for the collection of global resource, the CIIE has expanded its channel of procurement of global raw material for enterprises, and also allowed Chongqing hotpot to embrace the global market, to find business partners, and to show the image of Chongqing hotpot to international traders.

Background:

(Brief introduction of Chongqing hot pot industry)

Chongqing is the birthplace of hot pot and the "Capital of Hot Pot in China". In May 2016, Chongqing hot pot was elected as one of the top ten cultural symbols of Chongqing. At present, the Municipal Commission of Commerce is promoting Chongqing hot pot in order to apply for The Fifth National Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Chongqing hot pot industry has successfully maintained a good momentum of development for many years.

The number of hot pot stores in Chongqing is equal to 26.991, including 13.215 in nine districts of the city. The hot pot stores density within the inner ring road of the city is the highest, up to 21.7/km2, which is equivalent to one hotpot store every 200m.

According to the statistics of Chongqing Hot Pot Association, the total number of employees in the existing units of the association is 120.400; by consulting with the Municipal Market Supervision Bureau, the Human Resources and Social Security Bureau of the Municipality and other departments, it is known that the number of employees in other hot pot units in Chongqing is about 437.855, from which it is estimated that the number of employees in the hot pot industry in Chongqing is close to 560.000. Chongqing hot pot has more than 100.000 stores nationwide, with an operating revenue of more than 400 billion yuan.

As visiting city card of Chongqing City, Chongqing hot pot has already become the main driving force of the "going out" development of Chongqing catering industry.

In recent years, Chongqing hot pot enterprises have been speeding up the pace of overseas expansion. The famous hot pot brands led by Dezhuang have opened more than 200 stores overseas. Among them, Dezhuang Hot Pot has 16 restaurants in overseas stores.

In addition, Dezhuang imports more than 200 million food materials every year, mainly spices (including chilli peppers around the world), frozen fresh beef tripe, beef and pork meat, seafood and other healthy ingredients; and its products also cover 16 countries, including Singapore, EU, the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, etc., achieving nearly 20 million yuan of overseas sales in 2018.