In the past decade, a lot of papers related to the landform records of Quaternary glaciation in the east of China have been published and the controversies on the origin of potholes have been reported by many kinds of media. However, different authors used different names to describe the same kind of erosion landforms--potholes. Moreover, some researchers used the term pothole to describe different erosion landforms. This is not good for scholars to identify potholes and then reveal the past geological events. The authors of this paper analyzed the definition of pothole, and suggested that the term “pothole” can only be used to describe a smooth, roughly circular, bowlshaped or cylindrical hollow formed on the surface of bedrocks by fast whirling stream current or meltwater and that the pothole on the surface of bedrock with meltwater origin be called glacial pothole. Recently, some researchers related potholes found on the granite ridges in the east of China to differential weathering or wind erosion. The authors of this paper analyzed the characteristics of weathering and wind deflation, pointing that weathering and deflation are not the origins of potholes. The only possible origins of potholes are fast river currents or meltwater currents. Therefore, the potholes found on the bottoms of bedrock in the river channels in the south of China should have been formed by river currents or by the meltwater from the Quaternary valley glaciers, while the potholes found on the granite ridges in the north of China can only be formed by the meltwater from the Quaternary ice caps during the later stage of last glacial maximum. Thus, the potholes found in the granite ridges can be treated as the records of Quaternary ice caps.According to the distribution of potholes in the east of China, many ice caps or even continental glaciers should have been existed in the north of east China during the late time of LGM, and the south margin of the glaciers should have extended at least to the south of Mount Mengshan, Shandong Province.