Chopsticks are a must-have traditional tableware on the Chinese dining table. Learning how to use chopsticks is a necessary and technical skill for every Chinese child (even overseas Chinese children).
When we just learned to eat by ourselves, our parents would guide us to gradually get rid of the spoon and teach us to use chopsticks. For every Chinese child, learning to use chopsticks is a milestone like learning to stand, learn to walk, and learn to talk.
Although we are all proficient in using chopsticks (after all, we have not eaten for nothing in the past ten or twenty years), do you know the official standard method of using chopsticks? Do you understand the culture behind chopsticks? Do you know the etiquette of using chopsticks?
It doesn’t matter if you don't know or understand. Today, we will give you the answer!
The correct way to use chopsticks
There are different ways to hold and use chopsticks correctly, but they are all similar. The upper chopsticks are controlled by the thumb, index finger and middle finger. The lower chopsticks should be fixed, and only the upper chopsticks should be moved to pick up the food. This is very important.
Put the two chopsticks together and point them at the tip, and you can easily pick up food. There are usually two ways to hold chopsticks. The hand is placed at the back, and the fingertips touch the middle of the chopsticks.
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Traditional grip
The top chopstick is controlled by the thumb, index finger and middle finger: the top chopstick can move when it is pinched by the thumb and middle finger. The bottom chopstick should be fixed (usually pressed by the base of the thumb and ring finger), and only the top chopstick is moved to pick up food.
Common grip
The top chopstick is controlled by the thumb and index finger: the top chopstick can move when it is pinched by the thumb and index finger. The bottom chopstick should be fixed (usually pressed by the base of the thumb and middle finger), and only the top chopstick is moved to pick up food.
other
Put the two chopsticks together and pick up the food with the tips facing each other. Try to pick up the food with the tips of the chopsticks. If necessary, put your left hand under the food to support it to prevent it from dripping before it reaches your mouth.
Our Chinese scholar Mr. Liang Shiqiu described chopsticks in this way in his article.
Chopsticks are one of our great inventions. Primitive people ate with their hands, which was a great improvement over animals that could not use their hands to eat. Two chopsticks are equivalent to the extension of fingers, which is a step further than monkeys using branches to pick up things. Chopsticks are extremely flexible to use. They can be used to clamp, poke, pick, pick, peel, break, and peel. Chopsticks can do everything that fingers can do.
Indeed, chopsticks can not only deliver food intact to the diner's mouth without damaging it, but also flexibly divide objects. Compared with forks and spoons, they are better at picking up food and eating noodles.
China has been using tableware for a long time. Spoons have a history of about 8,000 years, forks have a history of about 4,000 years, and the upper limit of chopsticks is still uncertain, but they have a history of at least 3,000 years. Chopsticks were called "梜" in the pre-Qin era, "箸" in the Han Dynasty, and "拷" in the Ming Dynasty.
Exquisite chopsticks artifacts
The long history has destined our chopsticks to contain rich culture.
First, chopsticks have one round end and one square end. The round end symbolizes heaven, and the square end symbolizes earth, which corresponds to the Chinese understanding of the basic principle of the world.
Secondly, when holding chopsticks, the thumb and index finger are on top, the ring finger and pinky finger are on the bottom, and the middle finger is in the middle, which represents the three elements of heaven, earth and man, which is the Chinese understanding of the relationship between man and the world. Then, the Chinese follow the concepts of Tai Chi and Yin and Yang.
Tai Chi is one, and Yin and Yang are two; one divided into two means that everything is made up of two opposites. Combining two into one, the combination of Yin and Yang, also means a perfect result. Therefore, when we call the waiter in a restaurant, "bring a pair of chopsticks", not "bring two chopsticks".
The standard length of chopsticks is seven inches and six tenths of an inch, representing the seven emotions and six desires of humans, to show that humans are essentially different from animals.
In addition to being used as tableware, chopsticks can also be used as gifts. Give them to newlyweds, wishing them a baby soon; give them to lovers, wishing them to be together as a couple; give them to friends, wishing them equality and friendship; give them to teachers, wishing them to be upright and honest; give them to elders, wishing them to be happy; give them to children, wishing them to grow up quickly.
ChopChopstick etiquette
China is a country of etiquette and an ancient civilization, so the thousands of years of use of chopsticks have naturally condensed our traditional etiquette.
1. After picking up food, you should not put it back on the plate.
2. Do not point chopsticks at others or use chopsticks to gesture while eating.
3. Do not stick chopsticks into a bowl of rice or rice. This is a bad omen for placing offerings to ancestors.
4. When attending a banquet, you should not pick up your chopsticks (or spoon) before the host.
5. During the meal, if you have raised your chopsticks but don’t know which dish to eat, you should not move your chopsticks back and forth among the dishes or hover them in the air, or turn them back and forth on the plate without picking up any food.
6. When talking at a table, do not use chopsticks as props and wave them around randomly, or use chopsticks to knock on dishes or tabletops, or point at others. Put down the chopsticks gently after each use, and try not to make any noise.
The chopsticks we are used to using in daily life are actually the carrier of culture. There are so many things to pay attention to, which are all manifestations of our Chinese civilization. Now, after learning these little knowledge, can you proudly say "I can use chopsticks, I understand chopsticks"?
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