According to legend, in the eighth year of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, Wang Zhihe, who came to Beijing from Huangshan Mountain in Anhui Province to take the exam, came last in the gold list and lived in the hall. He wants to go back to his hometown, and the traffic is inconvenient. He wants to go to Beijing to study and prepare to take the exam again, which is far from the next exam period. Helpless, he had to make a living in Beijing for the time being. Wang Zhihe's family is not rich. His father opened a tofu shop in his hometown, and Wang Zhihe learned to make tofu at an early age, so he rented several rooms near Anhuitang. He grinds a few liters of tofu every day and sells it along the street. It's summer now, and sometimes the leftover tofu will soon become moldy and inedible, but he doesn't want to throw it away. He thought hard about the countermeasures, cut the tofu into small pieces, dried it a little, found a small jar, salted it with salt, then stopped working and concentrated on his studies, and gradually forgot about it.

The autumn wind is cool, and Wang Zhihe wants to go back to his old job and make tofu to sell. Suddenly, I remembered the pickled tofu in the jar, and I quickly opened the cylinder head. A foul smell came to my nose. When I took it out, I found that tofu was blue-gray. When I try it with my mouth, I feel it contains a strong aroma. Although it is not delicious, it is also intriguing. I gave it to my neighbors to taste and praise.

Wang Zhihe failed again and again, so he had to give up his studies to do business and process stinky tofu in the way he tried in the past. It is cheap and suitable for low-income workers, so he gradually opened the market and his business is booming. After raising money, he bought a set of paved houses in the middle of Yanshou Street, and sold them himself, wholesale and retail. According to the purchase contract, it was the winter of the seventeenth year of Kangxi. This is unique to Wang Zhihe. After many improvements, a set of production technology of stinky tofu was gradually explored. The production scale is expanding, the quality is better and the reputation is higher. It was introduced into the court in the late Qing Dynasty. It is said that Empress Dowager Cixi also likes to eat in late autumn and early winter, and it is also listed as imperial food, but the name is indecent. According to its blue and square characteristics, it was named "Fang Qing".