According to legend, during the reign of Kangxi, a young man named Wang Zhihe went to Beijing to catch the exam and failed in Sun Shan. He didn't have the money to go home, so he sold tofu in the mutton alley of Yanshou Street outside Qianmen, old Beijing, and made his own living. Wang Zhihe is, after all, a scholar with no business experience. One summer, the climate was hot and a lot of tofu was not sold out. He thought of a way to cut tofu into small pieces, dry it, put it in a jar, sprinkle some salt and pepper to pickle it, and want to keep it for himself to eat slowly later. After a long time, he forgot all the tofu pickled in the jar.

In the cool autumn, Wang Zhihe suddenly remembered the pot of tofu. When he opened it, it stinked and the white tofu turned blue-green. He couldn't bear to pour it out, covered his nose and got up the courage to taste it, which was delicious. He invited all his neighbors to have a try. Everyone agrees that it smells bad, tastes delicious and is appetizing.

The stinky tofu in Wang Zhihe has been handed down from generation to generation, and the business is booming. From generation to generation, it became a famous food in Beijing during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty. One day, Empress Dowager Cixi lost her temper because of her poor appetite. So, the royal chef used exquisite saucers carved with red and white radishes, and put a few pieces of stinky tofu with uniform size in the middle for Cixi to taste. Cixi felt delicious after eating. From then on, stinky tofu from Wang Zhihe entered the court and was included in the imperial menu.