Traditional Chinese tableware - chopsticks

 Chinese chopstick

1: What makes a real Chinese chopstick!

In China, chopsticks are equivalent to an extension of the fingers. 

It took a lot of refinement to make them the shape they are today - cylindrical on the part that holdsthe food and square on the other end, thick at the top and thin at the bottom.

Chopsticks are long, thin sticks that are held in the fingers to hold food or other things.

First of all, chopsticks are round at one end and square at the other. The round symbolizes heaven. Square symbolizes the earth and corresponds to the roundness of the sky; this is the Chinese understanding of the basic principles of the world.

Secondly, when holding chopsticks, the thumb and index finger are on top, the ring finger and little finger are on the bottom, and the middle finger is in the middle, representing the three talents of heaven, earth and man, which is the Chinese understanding of the relationship between man and the world.

The standard length of a chopstick is seven inches and six minutes, representing that humans have seven emotions and six desires, to show that they are fundamentally different from animals.

2. Chopsticks bear a distinctive Chinese mark.

Chopsticks (chopsticks) are the most commonly used eating utensils in China and play an important role in Chinese cuisine.

Almost every Chinese person has learned to use chopsticks to eat with food since childhood, and they are available at any Chinese restaurant around the world.

Used to pick up and bring food into the mouth, they are usually made of bamboo, wood and metal and are one of the symbols of Chinese food culture.

3: History of chopsticks.

Chopsticks were invented in China and later spread to Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese and other Chinese cultural circles. They are not only used for eating, but are also widely used in folk rituals such as weddings.

Chinese name ：筷子

Material: bamboo, wood, bone, porcelain, ivory, metal

Birthplace : China

China has been using cutlery for a long time, the history of using spoons is about 8000 years, the history of using forks is about 4000 years, the upper limit of time using chopsticks is not certain, but at least 3000 years of history, dinner forks until the Warring States period is still in use, the Warring States tomb in Luoyang, Henan Province, was unearthed in a bundle of 51 dinner forks. After the Warring States period, forks may have been eliminated, and fewer records and objects were found. The division of labor between spoons and chopsticks was very clear in the pre-Qin Dynasty, with spoons used for eating and chopsticks for eating food from spoons.

4. The yin and yang concept behind chopsticks

The Chinese abide by the concepts of Taiji and Yin and Yang.

Taiji is one and yin and yang are two.

One is divided into two, which means that everything is made up of two opposites.

The union of two into one, this yin and yang, also means a perfect result.

For example, both Eastern and Western civilizations originated from mythology. In the West, people and gods were separated later, and things were done by science and people by religion. In China, everything is combined together: the immortals He Xiangu, Tiejiao Li, Lu Dongbin, Sun Wukong and Pigs Bajie are also human beings.

The Chinese ideal and reality, soul and body, are also one and the same.

Therefore, if you call out to a waiter in a restaurant, "Take a pair of chopsticks," you are definitely Chinese; if you say, "Take two chopsticks," you are definitely a foreigner.

5. Countries of Use

Chopsticks are used as a daily eating tool in China, Korea, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Mongolia, Singapore and the Chinese in Malaysia. Other countries eating tools are roughly divided into two types, the Western food system using knives, forks and spoons in Europe, America and Latin America countries; the use of hand-held rice, including Africa, West Asia, India, Southeast Asia all countries except Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysian Chinese.

In China, chopsticks are not only used for eating, but are also widely used in folk rituals such as weddings, funerals and celebrations. Chinese chopsticks tend to be similarly rectangular or cylindrical in shape, or round at the head and square at the tail (alluding to "heaven and earth"), and are only slightly thinner at the head and tail. Because bamboo grows quickly and extensively, the use of bamboo chopsticks is high, and there are also traditional chopsticks made of expensive materials such as mahogany and ivory. The use of chopsticks soon spread from the Chinese to other ethnic groups, such as the He Meng, Tibetan, Mongolian, Hui, Manchu, Zhuang, and Miao, who all have their own eating habits, but also use chopsticks and are often inseparable from their customs and religious rituals. However, there are also many ethnic minorities in China whose traditional eating habits are known as "hand-held rice", such as the Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and the Li people.

6、The following are the twelve taboos on the use of chopsticks in China.

1. Three long and two short.

This means that before or during the meal, chopsticks are placed on the table in uneven lengths, this practice is very unlucky, we usually call it "three long and two short" which means "death". Because the Chinese used to believe that after death is to be put into a coffin, after the person is put into it, there is no coffin cover, the coffin is composed of two short boards before and after the two sides plus the bottom of a total of three long boards, five boards together to make the coffin is exactly three long and two short, so this is extremely unlucky thing.

2. fairies.

This practice is extremely unacceptable. The way to hold chopsticks is to hold them with the thumb, middle finger, ring finger and little finger, while the index finger sticks out, which in the eyes of Beijingers is called "scolding the street" because when eating, the index finger sticks out, always pointing at the other person. Therefore, using chopsticks to point at people when eating is tantamount to blaming others, which is the same as cursing, which can not be allowed to another situation is also this meaning, that is, when eating with others and talking with chopsticks to point at people.

3. To use chopsticks to make a sound.

It is also not acceptable to take the end of the chopsticks in your mouth and suck them back with your mouth, making a sizzling sound, which is considered a cheap practice. The act of sucking chopsticks with one's mouth is considered rude in itself, and the sound of it is even more offensive. Therefore, the presence of this practice is generally considered a lack of domestic discipline and is also not allowed.

4. striking the chalice and knocking the cup.

This behaviour is seen as begging for food, which is done by hitting the plate with chopsticks while eating. Because in the past, only beggars hit the begging bowl with chopsticks, the sound of the sound of the mouth with the lament, so that pedestrians pay attention and give alms to this practice is considered extremely lowly thing, was disrespected by others.

(5) Patrolling the city with chopsticks.

The practice is to hold chopsticks in your hand and act as if no one is looking, using them to cruise back and forth across the table looking for the food on the plate, not knowing where to remove them. This behavior is typical of a lack of cultivation and is extremely offensive to the eye.

6. Digging into the grave with chopsticks.

This refers to the hand with chopsticks in the dish without stopping to pull, in order to find prey, like raiding tombs digging graves general this practice with the "lost chopsticks patrolling the city" is similar, both belong to the lack of culture, obnoxious practice.

7. Tearful chopsticks and pearls.

This is actually a case of using chopsticks to put food on one's plate, which is not very handy and spills the soup into other dishes or onto the table. This is considered a serious disrespect and is also undesirable.

8. upside down.

This means using chopsticks upside down when dining, a practice that is very much looked down upon by people who are so hungry that they don't even care about their face, which is absolutely not acceptable.

9. Needle.

It's also not okay to use one chopstick to stick a dish on a plate during a meal, which is considered a form of humiliation to the person dining at the table, and making such a gesture during a meal is the same as sticking your middle finger out at someone in public in Europe.

10. To serve incense in public.

If a pair of chopsticks is inserted into a bowl of rice, it is considered disrespectful by the congregation, as it is traditional to do so when offering incense to the dead, and if a pair of chopsticks is inserted into a bowl of rice, it is considered the same as offering incense to the dead.

11. Crossing the Cross.

This is often not noticed by people, in the meal chopsticks randomly crossed on the table, which is not right, people think that hit the fork at the table, is the negation of all the other people at the table, just as students write the wrong homework, by the teacher in the nature of the book hit the fork, can not be accepted by others In addition, this practice is also disrespect for their own, because in the past to eat the lawsuit to draw the fork, this is undoubtedly in the negation of their own, this is also not good.

12. falling to the ground to frighten the gods.

This is a sign of serious disrespect and should not be disturbed as all the ancestors sleep underground.

The above mentioned twelve types of chopsticks are taboo. As a country of etiquette and an ancient city, the use of a small pair of chopsticks can show people the deep cultural deposits.

7、How to use chopsticks

• You should not put your food back on the plate after you have picked it up.
• You should not point your chopsticks at people or hold them while eating.
• You should not insert your chopsticks into a bowl of rice or rice. This is how to place ancestral offerings.
• Do not hit the bowl with chopsticks. In particular, do not bang your chopsticks against pots and pans when you are invited to a meal at home.
• Do not fight with other people's chopsticks.
• Don't use your chopsticks upside down.
• You should not spin (play with) your chopsticks.
• When attending a banquet, you should not use your chopsticks (or a spoon) before the host yells "start chopsticks" and then wait for the guests or the oldest person at the table to do so before starting to eat.
• During a meal, if you have already raised your chopsticks but do not know which dish to eat, do not move them back and forth between the plates or move them in the air, turning them back and forth on the plate without putting food between them.
• When picking up food from the same food container as another diner, you should not flip your chopsticks around to find it, but rather pick up the area you want to use beforehand.