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| The
history of the Chopsticks |
Chopsticks
was invented in China sometime during the Shong Dynasty , the
substitution of knives for chopsticks at the dinner table. That
was the time when chopsticks first began to be used, although it
is fairly certain that they were invented in China, neighboring
Asian countries adopted its use and modified it according to
cultural preference. According to Confucius, knives were equated
with acts of aggression and should not be used to dine.
By using a
pair of slender sticks, it is held between the thumb and fingers
of one hand. Eventually, chopsticks became the eating utensils
for the Chinese. Today, chopsticks are used all over the
world as well as China, making them the world's
second-most popular utensils
to enjoy your food and making more fun .
Chinese use chopsticks as easily and as naturally as western use spoons and forks.
All Chinese food is prepared so that it may be easily
handled with chopsticks. In fact, many older-generation
Chinese households have no forks at all. Fingers really have
to work in order to use these implements, however, and
our fingers have become lazy from eating with forks. Chopsticks are used for cooking as well as eating. They are
good for serving noodles |
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The
Chinese can tell what kind of persons
you are by the way you hold the chopsticks: |
| Chinese will tell you that they can guess many things about
a person from the way he handles his chopsticks. If he places
them across his rice bowl between bouts of eating, it
indicates that he is a boatman, for this is considered a good
omen in navigation.. Usually, however, placing chopsticks
across the rice bowl is simply the concluding gesture of the
meal, signifying "dinner’s over" or " I
can’t eat another bite." If the holder pushes the
sticks against his stomach to even them up instead of tapping
them on the table, chances are he is a laborer and is used to
eating out of doors, squatting on the ground. The marital
future of a baby girl can be foretold by the way she first
picks up a set of chopsticks, for if they are grasped at the
far end her husband will come from a distant province, but if
they are seized near the eating end her husband may turn out
to be the boy next door. To drop your chopsticks means bad
luck. To find a pair of unequal length at your place at table
means that you will miss a train, or boat, or plane |
| How
to use the Chopsticks: |
| Place
the first chopstick in the hollow between thumb and
index finger and rest its lower end below
the first joint of the third finger. This chopstick
remains stationary. |
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| Hold the other chopstick between the tips of the
index and middle fingers, steady its upper half against
the base of the index finger, and
use the tips of the thumb to keep it in place. |
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| To pick up things, move the upper chopstick
with index and middle fingers. |
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| After few practices, you will be able to use
chopsticks |
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| The
rules for use the Chopsticks: |
| 1 |
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| Never stick
the chopsticks into the food, especially not into the
rice. At the funeral service chopsticks are stuck into
the rice that stands on the altar. Put the chopsticks in
front of you on the table or a dish with the tip to the
left when you are not using them. |
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| Don't give
food from your chopsticks directly to somebody other's
chopsticks. At the funeral the bones of the burned body
are given in that way from person to person. |
| 3 |
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| Don't spear
food with your chopsticks. |
| 4 |
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| Neither point
with the chopsticks to something or somebody nor move
them too much around in the air. |
| 5 |
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| If you want to
separate a piece of food into two pieces with
chopsticks, do it step by step in exerting controlled
pressure on your chopsticks. |
| 6 |
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| Knife and
fork are used for western food only. Spoons are used for
eating certain Chinese dishes, for example shrimp fried rice. A
Chinese ceramic spoon is sometimes used to eat egg drop
soup. |
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