Chopsticks History And How to Use Chopsticks?

Chopsticks are a pair of small even-length tapered sticks, which are invented by ancient Chinese, and are the main eating utensils of Asian countries, such as China, Japan, Vietnam, Korea and Thailand.

When the Chinese began to use chopsticks as an eating instrument is anybody’s guess. They were first mentioned in writing in Liji(The book of Rites), a work compiled some 2,000 years ago, but certainly they had their initial form in the twigs which the primitive Chinese must began to use fire. The twigs then evolved into the wooden, tapering sticks as we know them today. Experts believe the history of wood or bamboo chopsticks can be dated to about 1,000 years earlier than ivory chopsticks. Bronze chopsticks were invented in the Western Zhou Dynasty (1100 BC - 771 BC). Lacquer chopsticks from the Western Han (206 BC - 24 AD) were discovered in Mawangdui, China. Gold and silver chopsticks became popular in the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907). It was believed that silver chopsticks could detect poisons in food.

The types of chopsticks

Chopsticks may be made of any of several materials: bamboo, wood, gold, silver, ivory, pewter, and plastics. In cross-section, they may be either round or square. Some of them are engraved with colored pictures or pattern for decoration. Ordinary chopsticks used in Chinese homes are of wood or bamboo, those for banquets are often ivory, whereas gold ones belonged only to the royalty and aristocracy.

How to Use Chopsticks

The correct way to use chopsticks is to hold the pair in the hollow between the thumb and forefinger of your fork hand. The one closest to your body should rest on the first joint of the ring finger and stay with the forefinger and middle finger, which manipulate it like pincers to pick up the food. The strength applied by the fingers should vary with the things to be taken hold of. The skill to pick up, with speed and dexterity, small things like beans and peanuts and slippery things like slices of preserved eggs can only come from practice and coordinated action of the fingers. Chopsticks generally should be held at the thicker end about a third along their length for balance and efficiency. For greater reach to pick up food further away, hold the chopsticks at the upper ends.

Incidentally, using chopsticks has a great deal in common with wielding a brush to write Chinese characters. Those who write a good hand, some scholars have observed, are invariably those who handle the chopsticks correctly. One holds the writing brush basically in the same way as one would the moving chopsticks and, while writing, one must achieve coordination in the movement of the shoulder, arm, wrist and fingers in order to write well.

Chopsticks Etiquette

1. Never pointing the chopsticks on someone because it is discourtesy.

2. Never spear or poke food with the tips of the chopsticks because it is rude behavior.

3. If you need to rest your chopsticks, leave them on the chopsticks rest or by the side of your bowl or plate. Do not stick chopsticks into your food, especially not into rice.

4. Do not suck on the tip of the chopsticks.

5. If the table settings include serving spoons or chopsticks, use them instead of your own set to get yourself food.

Westerners are often impressed with the cleverness of the Chinese hand that makes embroideries and sculptures with such consummate skill. Could not this also be attributed, at least partly, to the constant use of chopsticks?