Datong copper hotpot is a traditional high-grade pot food in Shanxi province. Eating from hotpots is enjoyable for the local people, where restaurants, big and small, serve hotpots, especially in winter when cold winds howl outside their windows.

The food must be boiled in the copperware produced in Datong or pots with meticulously engraved decorative patterns. Datong has a long history of producing crafted copper pots, coated with tin, which are rustproof and acts as a disinfectant, and retains the original taste of the food. The hotpots are most suitable for instant boiling of mutton slices, assorted vegetables and other food.