There's a new contender for strangest self-care trend of the year, and it's coming out of the snowy northern reaches of China. At the Maple Leaf Village Hot Spring Resort in Harbin, guests are steeping. That's what hot pot spa is.
At first glance, it looks like a prank. The signature pool is built to resemble a jiugongge, the classic nine-grid hot pot tray found in restaurants across China. But this isn't a novelty paint job — the broth is real. Staff toss in actual chilli peppers that bob against bathers' shoulders, along with jujube dates, lemon slices, and decorative vegetables, turning the water into something that looks suspiciously edible.
The resort has since doubled down on the bit. In a recent expansion, it introduced a two-tone soup pool modelled after yuan yang hotpot — the beloved 'Mandarin duck' style split between two broths. One side glows chilli-red; the other stays pale and milky, dotted with vegetables. It's a five-meter-wide homage to one of China's most recognisable dining rituals, minus the actual eating.
And the hot pot theme is just the headline act. The resort also offers Orbeez-filled soaking pools, fish spas for a nibbling exfoliation treatment, herbal and flower-infused baths, saunas, and outdoor hot tubs that stay steaming even as snow piles up around Harbin's famous ice festival grounds.
Ask the resort why anyone would want to marinate themselves, and the answer leans hard into traditional Chinese medicine. Chilli and herb-infused water, staff say, is meant to boost circulation and help "expel dampness" from the body — a concept rooted in TCM theory about balancing internal moisture and energy flow.
Not everyone is buying it. Online reaction has split between genuine curiosity about the wellness claims and gentle horror at the idea of soaking next to a floating chilli pepper. The joke writes itself: is this self-care, or a very slow-cooked fate?
One Instagram video from vlogger Jordan Egbert, exploring what he called the Chilli Peppers Hot Pot Spa, pulled in more than two million views. Describing the split-broth pool, Jordan put it simply: it’s the craziest spa he’s ever seen.
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