How did the word "chopsticks" in chopsticks develop and evolve? This title originated from the Ming Dynasty. The book Shuyuan Miscellaneous Notes written by Lu Rong of the Ming Dynasty records: "Folk taboos exist everywhere, but especially in Wuzhong. For example, the taboo of 'live' when traveling on a boat, the taboo of 'turn', etc. "箸" means "kuai'er". "It turns out that "箸" and "zhu" have the same pronunciation, and boatmen were most afraid of the ship anchoring, so they changed the name "箸" to "kuai'er", which means to make the ship move faster. Nowadays, because it has been circulated for a long time, some scholars and officials also call chopsticks as Kuai Zi, forgetting its origin. "The Japanese do not have this taboo, so Japan calls chopsticks "chopsticks". Chopsticks are made of bamboo. Over time, later generations added the prefix bamboo to "kuai" and called it "chopsticks".
China is the birthplace of chopsticks. Eating with chopsticks has a history of at least 3,000 years. It is the region in the world where chopsticks are used for eating. Chopsticks look like very simple two small thin sticks, but they have picks and It has the functions of stirring, tonging, and grilling, and is easy to use, cheap and high-quality. Chopsticks are also a unique tableware in the world today. They are a product of the slow evolution of humans in Asia and were not invented by a single person. /p>
Chapter 22 of "The Scholars" "The waiter took a pair of chopsticks, two small dishes and a plate of cured pork head. "Shen Congwen's "Autobiography of Congwen·I Read a Small Book and a Big Book at the same Time" "There is another small restaurant on the side street. In front of the door there is a big bamboo tube filled with chopsticks cut from bamboo. ”
Chopsticks are an eating tool invented by the Han people. According to archaeological data, the ancestors of the Han people knew how to use branches and bamboo branches to pick up food in ancient times.
Chopsticks were called chopsticks in the ancient book "Han Feizi" "Yu Lao" records: "In the past, Zhou was like a chopstick and the chopstick was terrible. "King Zhou was the monarch of the late Shang Dynasty. It can be seen that chopsticks made of fine ivory appeared in our country as early as the 11th century BC. In other words, the recorded history of using chopsticks in our country has been more than 3,000 years. In addition, there are many folk legends about chopsticks. . One says that Jiang Ziya was inspired by the divine bird to invent silk bamboo chopsticks, another says that Daji invented chopsticks using jade hairpins to please King Zhou, and there is also a legend that Dayu invented chopsticks to save time when he was controlling floods.
Chopsticks are an eating tool invented by the Han people. According to archaeological data, in ancient times, the ancestors of the Han people already knew how to use branches and bamboo branches to pick up food.
Chopsticks were called chopsticks in ancient times. According to the ancient book "Han Feizi· "Yu Lao" records: "In the past, Zhou was like a chopstick, but the chopstick was terrifying. "King Zhou was the monarch of the late Shang Dynasty. It can be seen that chopsticks made of fine ivory appeared in my country as early as the 11th century BC. In other words, the recorded history of using chopsticks in our country has been more than 3,000 years. In addition, there are also folk legends about chopsticks. There are many legends, one is that Jiang Ziya was inspired by the divine bird to invent silk bamboo chopsticks, another is that Daji invented the use of jade hairpins as chopsticks to please King Zhou, and there is also the legend that Dayu invented chopsticks to save time when he was controlling floods. The length of chopsticks is about 22-24 centimeters. There are many handicrafts on chopsticks, which incorporate more traditional craftsmanship into their designs, making them a favorite for people to collect and also very popular among foreigners.
In the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, chopsticks were collectively called "箸"
Chopsticks had many names. In the pre-Qin period, they were called "抯" and also called "氯". Zheng Xuan commented: "抯, like chopsticks. Nowadays people call chopsticks a holding bag. "When Taishi Ma Qian, a famous historian in the Han Dynasty, wrote "Historical Records", he called the chopsticks of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties "箸", which was written as "wooden chopsticks" in ancient times. "Chopsticks" appeared again in the Han Dynasty.
Chopsticks
The word "篯". In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Li Bai's poem "Traveling is Difficult" said: "I can't eat when I stop the cup and throw the chopsticks into it"; Du Fu's poem "Beauty's Journey" says: "The rhinoceros chopsticks are tired of drinking for a long time, and the rhinoceros knife is cutting the empty space. . "From the poems of the two great poets, we know that "箯" and "箸" were interchangeable in the Tang Dynasty. However, since the Tang Dynasty, the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties have all been called "箸". But the name of chopsticks has not been maintained. , changes occurred in the Ming Dynasty. Ming Lu Rong's "Shu Yuan Miscellaneous Notes" said: "Zhu" is a homophony of "Zhu" and "箸", which is taboo among Wuzhong boat people and fishermen. " Chopsticks", they are most afraid of the boat "living". If the boat stops, the sailors will have no business. They are even more afraid of the boat being "wormed". If the wooden boat is "wormed", how will it leak and catch fish? Under the guidance of this superstitious homophonic thought , so when he sees "箸", he calls it "Kuai Zi" instead of "箸" for good luck.
Li Yuheng of the Ming Dynasty put it more clearly in "Tui Peng Huan Yu": "In the world, there are people who taboo evil words and call them beautiful words, such as setting up chopsticks to taboo and call them Kuaizi. Now because they have been circulated for a long time, even among the scholar-bureaucrats Those who also call chopsticks "kuaizi" forget their origins. "Although some people in the Ming Dynasty called "箸" "kuai", Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty did not admit that the folk word "chopsticks" prefixed with bamboo was added to "kuai". This can be proved by the fact that "Kangxi Dictionary" only includes "箸" but not "chopsticks". However, it was difficult for the emperor to resist the trend of people who were afraid of violating taboos and liked to express their emotions. In Chapter 40 of "A Dream of Red Mansions", in the section where Jia Mu entertains Grandma Liu, Cao Xueqin calls "箸" three times, calls "篯" twice, and directly writes "chopsticks" four times.
In today's society, the name of chopsticks has become commonplace, but experts and scholars still call chopsticks as chopsticks or chopsticks in calligraphy, poetry works and articles. They have not "forgotten their beginnings" as "Tui Peng Huan Yu" said also".
The first king to use ivory chopsticks
Our country is the birthplace of chopsticks and has a long history of eating with chopsticks. The ancient book "Han Feizi Yu Lao"
Chopsticks (19 photos)
contains: "In the past, Zhou was like a chopstick and the chopsticks were terrible." Sima Qian wrote in "Historical Records·Zong Weizi Family" "It also goes that "Zhou made elephant chopsticks, and Jizi sighed and said: If it is an elephant chopstick, it must be a jade cup; if it is a jade cup, it must be thought of the rare and strange things in the distance and to control it. From then on, the progress of Yuma's palace began to be unstoppable. "Although this is a statement about the fear of the courtiers due to King Zhou's luxurious life, it provides the most valuable written historical data for us to trace the birth and development of chopsticks from the court incidents caused by ivory chopsticks. Zhou was the monarch of the last Shang Dynasty. According to this calculation, my country had around 1144 BC, which means that refined ivory chopsticks appeared in my country more than 3,100 years ago.
There are also people who doubt the record in ancient books that "Zhou is an elephant chopstick". They think that there are no elephants in Henan, Hebei and other places, so how can there be ivory chopsticks? According to archaeologists, the oracle bone inscriptions unearthed from the Shang Dynasty contain the word "xiang", as well as records of "Fu Xiang" and "Lai Xiang". There is also a sentence in "Lu Shi Chun Qiu Ancient Music" that "businessmen serve Xiang". According to "Original Flavor Pian": "The promise of Jingxiang" means that elephant trunk is also a kind of delicacy. From this we can see that there were swarms of wild elephants in the Shang Dynasty. It is precisely because elephants were hunted in the Shang Dynasty that it was possible for "Zhou to become an elephant chopstick".
The use of chopsticks in our country has always been recorded in written records, but there is a lack of physical evidence. A relief sculpture of chopsticks was found in an ancient Han stove collected by the China Kitchen Culture Museum, which makes up for the lack of physical evidence of chopsticks. The blank is the only known physical evidence. Its exquisiteness is comparable to that of modern chopsticks. It can be called a contemporary national treasure and has extremely high historical research value. The relief of this chopstick can not only prove that people were already using it during the Han Dynasty. The use of chopsticks can better reflect the affluent living conditions and diverse lifestyles of people at that time.
Usage taboos editor
The use of chopsticks by Han people for meals has been handed down from ancient times. In ancient times, they were also called "箸". The use of chopsticks in daily life is very particular. Generally, when we use chopsticks, the correct way to use them is to hold the chopsticks with your right hand, pinch the upper end of the chopsticks with your thumb and index finger, and hold the chopsticks with the other three fingers naturally bent, and the two ends of the chopsticks must be aligned. During use, the chopsticks must be placed neatly on the right side of the rice bowl before eating, and they must be placed neatly and vertically in the center of the rice bowl after eating. And the following thirteen ways of using chopsticks are absolutely taboo.
Three long and two short
This means placing chopsticks of uneven lengths on the table before or during the meal. This approach is very unlucky, and we usually call it "three longs and two shorts". It means "death". Because the Chinese used to believe that people should be put into coffins after death. Before the lid of the coffin was closed after the person was put in, the components of the coffin were two short wooden boards at the front and back, and three long wooden boards at the sides and bottom. The five wooden boards taken together are exactly three long and two short. So this is extremely unlucky.
The Immortal Guidance
This extremely unacceptable way of holding chopsticks is to hold the chopsticks with your thumb, middle finger, ring finger, and little finger while extending your index finger. This is called " Scolding the streets”.
Because when eating, you always point your index finger at others. Generally, when you point your index finger at someone, it means to accuse someone. Therefore, pointing your finger at others when eating with chopsticks is tantamount to accusing others, which is the same as swearing. is not allowed. Another situation that also has this meaning is talking to others while eating and pointing at them with chopsticks.
Leave a sound when tasting chopsticks
This method is to put one end of the chopsticks in your mouth and suck it back and forth with your mouth, making a sizzling sound from time to time. This behavior is regarded as a despicable practice, because sucking chopsticks with your mouth while eating is a rude behavior in itself, and the sound coupled with it is even more annoying, so this behavior will generally It is considered a lack of tutoring and cannot be allowed.
Clicking the lamp and cup
This behavior is regarded as begging for food. The method is to use chopsticks to hit the bowl when eating, because in the past, only beggars used chopsticks to hit the begging bowl. The sound made by the chopsticks combined with the plea from the mouth will attract the attention of passers-by and give alms. This practice is considered extremely despicable and is looked down upon by others. As the saying goes, "Knock on bowls and chopsticks to ask for food for a lifetime."
Course the city with chopsticks
This method is to hold the chopsticks in your hand and use the chopsticks to move the dishes on the table as if there is no one else around. It is best to look for where to take off the chopsticks on the plate. This kind of behavior is a typical manifestation of lack of self-cultivation, is arrogant and extremely disgusting.
Digging with chopsticks
This refers to holding chopsticks in the hand and digging around in the dish in order to find prey, just like a tomb robber. This approach is similar to "cruising the city with a pair of chopsticks", which are both uneducated and annoying.
The drop of the chopsticks
This is when using chopsticks to pick up vegetables on your own plate, your hands are not in good shape and the vegetable soup spills into other dishes or onto the table. This practice is considered a serious disrespect and is also undesirable.
Inverting the world
This means using chopsticks upside down when eating. This practice is very looked down upon. As the saying goes, if you are hungry and don't care about your face, it is absolutely not allowed to use your chopsticks upside down.
Dinghaishenzhen
It is also not allowed to use a chopstick to insert dishes on the plate during meals. This is considered a humiliation to the diners at the same table. Doing this while eating is like giving people the middle finger in public in Europe, which is also not okay.
Offering incense in public
It is often out of good intentions. When helping others to serve rice, they insert a pair of chopsticks into the rice and hand it to them for convenience and convenience. It will be considered disrespectful, because this is done only when the dead are offering incense. If you insert a pair of chopsticks into the rice, it is regarded as offering incense to the dead, so inserting chopsticks into the bowl is never acceptable. of.
Cross Cross
This is often not noticed by people. It is wrong to cross your chopsticks on the table while eating. Marking a cross at the dinner table is a complete denial of other people at the same table, just like the nature of a student writing a wrong assignment and being marked with a cross by the teacher in his notebook, which is unacceptable to others. In addition, this approach is also disrespectful to oneself, because in the past, people only used forks when facing lawsuits and drawing confessions. This is undoubtedly denying oneself, which is also unacceptable.
Falling to the ground with a shock
The so-called "falling to the ground with a shock" means accidentally dropping the chopsticks on the ground, which is a sign of serious disrespect. Because people believe that all ancestors sleep underground and should not be disturbed, dropping chopsticks is equivalent to disturbing the ancestors underground, which is extremely unfilial, so this behavior is not allowed. But there is a way to break it. Once the chopsticks fall to the ground, you should quickly use the chopsticks to draw a cross on the ground according to the direction where you are sitting. The direction is first east-west and then north-south. This means that I am not something and should not disturb the ancestors, and then pick it up again. Chopsticks, and said at the same time that he deserved to die.
Thousands of people would criticize
Usually this is also indecent, but nowadays many people have violated this custom. "Qianfuzhi" means not using chopsticks when drinking or chatting, but placing the chopstick holder between the plate and the table. The tip of the chopstick is often raised high and pointed at the diners. This is very impolite. of. Similar to the above-mentioned "immortal guiding the way", it means to curse or accuse others.
Countries around the world use chopsticks as daily eating tools, including Chinese in China, North Korea, South Korea, Japan,
Vietnam, Mongolia, Singapore and Malaysia. Food tools in other countries are roughly divided into two types: European, American and Latin American countries that use the Western food system of knives, forks and spoons; countries that use hand-picked meals, including all countries in Africa, West Asia, India, and Southeast Asia except Vietnam, Singapore, and Malaysian Chinese. .
China
In China, chopsticks are not only used for eating, but are also widely used in folk customs such as weddings, funerals, and celebrations. The shape of Chinese chopsticks is mostly similar to a rectangular parallelepiped or cylinder, or the head is round and the tail is square (coinciding with the "round sky and square place"), only slightly thinner at the head and tail, and pointed chopsticks are also popular. Due to the rapid and widespread growth of bamboo, bamboo chopsticks are widely used, and chopsticks are also made of traditional mahogany, ivory and other precious materials. Shortly after the popular use of chopsticks by the Han people, it was also introduced to other ethnic groups, such as the Hmong, Tibetan, Mongolian, Hui, Manchu, Zhuang, Miao, etc. Although they all have their own eating habits, chopsticks are also commonly used and related to customs and religious rituals. Often inseparable. However, there are also many ethnic minorities in China whose traditional eating habits are famous for "eating with their hands", such as the Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Lis, etc.
Japan
Japan has inherited China’s inherent chopstick-making craftsmanship and has ingeniously localized it. Japan
Chopsticks
Chopsticks with pointed tips are popular in many styles. They are usually made of wood or lacquered. The name follows the ancient Chinese word "箸" (はし, hashi). , there are also giant long chopsticks specially used for cooking, which are called "caishi chopsticks" in Japanese.
Korean Peninsula
The Koreans were the first to introduce chopstick culture outside China. For more than a thousand years, they divided the functions of tableware into finer details. They used spoons and tongs for eating. Chopsticks are used for dishes, and the habit of holding up the rice bowl to eat is regarded as irregular behavior (they think it is what beggars do when asking for food), and they are not allowed to touch the rice bowl with their mouths. Because of the war, in order to make the chopsticks more durable, their chopsticks were made of two flat pieces of metal, called "." The etymology is derived from the pronunciation of the Chinese character "箸" "?" (jeo) plus the inherent word "?" (garak, meaning bar). "?" was added because the confluence of "?" and "?" occurred in the standard Korean language during the Middle Ages. In some Korean dialects the name of chopsticks is still the monosyllabic "?".
Vietnam
Vietnam has used chopsticks for a long time. Although it has been under French colonial rule for a long time and has received Western culture
Japanese, Korean and Chinese chopsticks
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The impact, but still maintain the tradition of using chopsticks. The name "?a" for chopsticks is derived from the Chinese "箸" (medieval pronunciation H, H), but it is not a Chinese-Vietnamese pronunciation.
Southeast Asia
In modern times, under the influence of the local Chinese, chopsticks are also common in Thailand. For example, when they enjoy local-style meals, they must prepare hot pot and use chopsticks. Malaysian Chinese, The Chinese, who account for 77% of the population in Singapore, still use chopsticks. Even Malays and some foreigners also use them. Restaurants and restaurants provide chopsticks to guests. The traditional eating habits of the native ethnic groups in Southeast Asian countries, except Vietnam, are all famous for "hand-picked rice", including: Philippines, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
West
It was the Italian Matteo Ricci who introduced chopsticks to Europe earlier. His book "Notes on China" also described the culture and usage of chopsticks. As overseas Chinese continue to immigrate to European and American countries, the West is no stranger to chopsticks, and many families have chopsticks. The French Tourism Association has developed a "Golden Chopsticks Award" to commend the outstanding Chinese food industry; there is a "Chopsticks Museum" in Germany, which contains thousands of chopsticks from different historical periods.
Differences between Chinese, Japanese and Korean chopsticks
China: mostly made of bamboo, slightly longer, with round heads and square tails. (In China, long chopsticks are convenient for eating at a large table)
Japan: mostly made of wood, slightly shorter, with pointed tips and thick tails. (Japanese eat one portion per person, and the chopsticks do not need to be long)
Korea: Made of polymetal, medium, flat in shape. (Korean people grill a lot, so they use metal, and there is a tradition of using metal tableware.
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The correct gestures and methods of holding chopsticks are not unique, but they are all similar.
How to hold chopsticks
The upper chopsticks are controlled with the thumb, index finger and middle finger. It is very important to keep the lower chopsticks fixed and only move the upper chopsticks to hold the food.
Put the heads of the two chopsticks together and align the tips of the chopsticks, making it easy to pick up food.
There are usually two ways to hold chopsticks. The hands are placed at the back, and the fingertips are in the middle of the chopsticks.
Traditional and common 1
The upper chopstick is controlled by the thumb, index finger and middle finger: pinch it with the thumb, index finger and middle finger, and the upper chopstick can move
The lower chopstick should be fixed (usually pressed with the tiger's mouth and ring finger) , only use the upper chopstick to pick up food
Common 2
The upper chopstick is controlled by the thumb and index finger: pinch it with the thumb and index finger, and the upper chopstick can move
The lower chopsticks should be fixed (usually pressed with the tiger's mouth and middle finger), and only the upper chopsticks should be used to pick up food
Others
Put the heads of the two chopsticks together, and the chopsticks Pick tip to tip
Try to pick with the tips of chopsticks. When necessary, place your left hand under the food to support it to avoid food dripping before it is delivered to your mouth[6]
Usage Etiquette Edit
After picking up food, you should not put it back on the plate.
Do not point your chopsticks at others or point fingers with your chopsticks while eating.
Chopsticks cannot be inserted into a bowl of rice or rice. This is the way to place the ancestors' offerings, and it has an ominous sign. See the rice at the end of the foot.
Don’t fight with other people’s chopsticks.
When attending a banquet, one should not use chopsticks (the same goes for spoons) before the host.
In some countries, you will wait for the guest (or the oldest person present) to make a move before starting to eat.
During the meal, you have already raised your chopsticks, but you don’t know which dish to eat. At this time, you cannot move the chopsticks back and forth among the dishes or swim in the air or turn back and forth on the dish. But there is no food.
When talking at the dinner table, do not use chopsticks as props and dance around randomly; or use chopsticks to knock the dishes on the table, or use chopsticks to point others. Every time you use your chopsticks, put them down gently and try not to make any noise [7]
Please adopt it! ! ! !