CHONGQING: Wang Wenjun, who has cooked hotpot for 26 years in southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality, posted recently on social media that his occupation is now classified according to a national standard.
“Relevant authorities are planning and designing qualification exams according to the standard,” said Wang, adding that a practitioner can be certified as a “hotpot chef” after passing the examination.
The job of hotpot chef was recognized in the 2022 edition of the occupational classification code of China.
The new standard further specifies the profession’s definition, skill ranks and vocational training requirements, among others, jointly published in February by China’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the Ministry of Commerce.
Chongqing, which is renowned nationwide for its spicy hotpots, took the lead in formulating the standard. In the municipality, there were about 32,000 hotpot restaurants as of last September, while the total output of the hotpot industry chain reached 300 billion yuan (about 42.3 billion U.S. dollars) in 2022, according to a press release. –Agencies
