Chopsticks play an important role in Chinese dining culture because chopsticks have a history of thousands of years in China. According to Debra Weiner, a writer for New York Times newspaper, “No one knows for certain the origins of chopsticks, but according to experts, they were used in China as early as 400 B.C.” In other words, the Chinese people were using chopsticks approximately three thousand years ago in China.

There are two famous legends and folk customs about the origin of chopsticks. The invention of chopsticks can be traced back five thousand years ago in China, when the original purpose was used to cook. Chinese people like to eat hot and boiled food, so the purpose of chopsticks was used to stir hot foods, and to take foods out of hot liquids (“Chopsticks”, 2017 ) . The second legends of chopsticks mentioned that chopsticks started to become table utensils around Shang Dynasty (approximately 3,000 years ago). It was because China suffered from a shortage of firewood during that period. Therefore, people chopped food into smaller pieces to cook faster in order to conserve fuel caused the usage of chopsticks to increase, because chopsticks were easier to transport small pieces of food from rice bowls towards the mouth.

By 500 A.D. (approximately one thousand five hundred years ago), the use of chopsticks had spread out to other Asian countries like Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. Many people may wondering why chopsticks become so popular in Asia. The most important reason is that tradition of food in China and Korea was already cut into small pieces. Hence, we don’t need to use knives at the table. On the other hand, rice in China and Korea is the short or medium-grain variety- unlike Western long-grain rice; the Asian rice is gummy and clumpy. That makes it convenient when chopsticks come together to lift steaming bundles of sticky rice.

Chopstick use quickly became widespread throughout Asia. However, different cultures adopted different chopstick styles. Although chopsticks were created in China, I was surprised to find that the chopsticks in Korea are different from China in terms of material used, usage, length, shapes, surface. Moreover, there are different table manners and the meaning of chopsticks.

How to use chopsticks