Riddles have been in China for several years.

In ancient times, when people communicated with each other, for some special reason, it was not convenient to express their thoughts directly, but suggested another layer of content through tortuous language, which gave birth to the "riddle".

The language phenomenon of the so-called "tortuous metaphor" recorded in writing first appeared in the poem "Playing Songs" in the era of the Yellow Emperor, that is, "breaking bamboo, continuing bamboo, flying soil and eating meat", implying that people made slingshots and hunted wild animals.

By the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the prototype of this riddle had become very popular, and it had a name called "Ci" and "argot". Some monarchs prefer argot to straightforward advice. In Liu Xie's Wen Xin Diao Long, there is a record of "Chu Qi, make good use of argot".

Fu argot appeared in the late Warring States period, among which Xunzi's attached text is the most representative. This fu has basically possessed the characteristics of riddles in folk riddles that originated 2,300 years ago.