Xuanwei ham originated from the folk life of Han nationality. After the 16th year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty (1383), the Ming government immigrated a large number of people from the Central Plains to Yunnan. These immigrants brought advanced production and lifestyle to the Central Plains. Every family raises pigs. When they were slaughtered before the end of the year, they couldn't eat all the fresh meat, so they pickled the pig's front and back legs in the coming year. After these immigrants came to Yunnan, they also brought this way of life.
In the fifth year of Yongzheng in Qing Dynasty (1727), the name of ham was still circulating in the period of "returning home" in eastern Yunnan. "Changing land to flow" is a political measure to abolish hereditary chiefs in minority areas and appoint temporary flow officials in Ming and Qing Dynasties. During the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, the chieftain was abolished and the Guizhou Government Council was established. In the fifth year of Yongzheng in Qing Dynasty, Xuanwei was re-established at the suggestion of E Ertai, Governor of Yunnan and Guizhou. In this way, Xuanwei became the local economic and political center, expanded the market scale, increased the number of businessmen coming from south to north, and the trade industry soon prospered. In order to buy salt or change some pocket money, local people take ham to Xuanwei for trading. Foreign businessmen found that the ham here was of high quality, so they bought it in large quantities and sold it abroad in the name of "Xuanwei Ham". So Xuanwei ham is famous all over the world.
The formation of large-scale production of Xuanwei ham was during the reign of Xuan Tong in the late Qing Dynasty. There is a young man named Pu Zaiting in Rongcheng Town, Xuanwei. He was originally from a scholar's family, but he was indifferent to his reputation. 14 years old began to do caravan business. In the first year of Xuantong (1909), he and several friends who were interested in developing the ham industry planned to set up Xuanwei Ham Co., Ltd., which was the first ham company in Xuanwei history. Since then, Xuanwei ham has developed from dispersed curing to large-scale enterprise processing. This is of decisive significance to the development of Xuanwei ham.