It is said that the custom of eating mutton from winter solstice began in the Han Dynasty. According to legend, Liu Bang, Emperor Gaozu of Han Dynasty, ate mutton cooked in Fan Kuai on the solstice of winter, which was particularly delicious and full of praise. Since then, the custom of eating mutton from winter solstice has been formed among the people. On the solstice of winter, people eat mutton and various nourishing foods one after another in order to have a good omen for the coming year. Now in Tengzhou, Shandong Province, this day is called Fujiu. Before the festival, the elders will be given gifts such as mutton, and everyone will drink mutton soup, which is a good sign for individuals, elders and families.

Tengzhou mutton soup is made separately: mutton, leg meat, sheep head meat, sheep brain, sheep egg, sheep liver, sheep lung, sheep whip, sheep blood and so on. Some even make sheep ears, sheep hoofs, sheep fetuses and sheep intestines. Each has its own flavor and leads the way. Mutton soup generally adopts the method of returning to the pot, and the soup is white and rotten, fresh and delicious.

Tengzhou people have a lot of attention to drinking mutton soup, which is divided into cold and tonic. Cold is the coldest time to drink between March 9 and September 9. Drinking mutton soup from winter to Sunday, September 19, February 9, and March 9 can enhance physical fitness, get rid of diseases and strengthen the body. Every winter solstice, in Tengzhou's urban and rural areas, it used to go out to send ducks to their mothers, but now it has become a fashion for daughters to send mutton, leg of lamb and whole sheep.