China is the birthplace of chopsticks. It has a history of 3000 years, and it is the area where chopsticks are used to eat in the world. Chopsticks seem to be just two very simple thin sticks, but they have the functions of picking, poking, clamping, mixing and scraping, and they are convenient to use and cheap. Chopsticks are also a unique tableware in the world today. Chopsticks are the product of the slow evolution of human beings in Asia, not invented by someone.
Back to the 22nd Scholars, "the waiter took a pair of chopsticks, two side dishes and a plate of bacon." Shen Congwen's autobiography, I read both small books and big books. There is a big bamboo tube in front of a small restaurant in a small street, which contains chopsticks cut from bamboo.
Chopsticks are eating tools invented by Han people. Archaeological data show that in ancient times, Han ancestors knew how to pick up food with branches and bamboo branches.
Chopsticks were called chopsticks in ancient times, and the ancient book "Han Feizi Yulao" contained "The past is like chopsticks, and Ji Zi is miserable." Zhou Wang was the monarch at the end of Shang Dynasty, which shows that chopsticks made of ivory appeared in China as early as 1 1 century BC. In other words, the recorded history of using chopsticks in China has exceeded 3,000 years. In addition, there are many folklore about chopsticks. One said that Jiang Ziya was inspired by the divine bird to invent the silk and bamboo chopsticks, the other said that da ji invented the chopsticks with the Hosta in order to win the favor, and the legend that Dayu invented the chopsticks by fishing hot food with branches to save time during water control.
Chopsticks are eating tools invented by Han people. Archaeological data show that in ancient times, Han ancestors knew how to pick up food with branches and bamboo branches.
Chopsticks were called chopsticks in ancient times, and the ancient book Han Feizi Yu Lao said, "The past is like chopsticks, but Ji Zi is terrible." Zhou Wang was the monarch at the end of Shang Dynasty. It can be seen that chopsticks made of ivory appeared in China as early as 1 1 century BC, that is to say, the history of using chopsticks in China has been recorded for more than 3,000 years. In addition, there are many folk legends about chopsticks, such as Jiang Ziya's invention of bamboo and silk chopsticks inspired by the divine bird, da ji's invention of chopsticks with a hairpin to win the favor of Zhou Wang, and the legend of Dayu's invention of chopsticks to save time in taking hot food from branches during water control. The length of ordinary chopsticks is about 22-24 cm. Chopsticks have many handicrafts, and more traditional crafts are integrated into the design, which has become the choice of people's collection and is also very popular with foreigners.
Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing all called "Qi".
Chopsticks have many names. In the pre-Qin period, they were called "bears" or "pods". Zheng Xuan commented: "Here, there are chopsticks. Today, people call it chopsticks carrying. " Sima Qian, a famous historian in Han Dynasty, called the chopsticks of Shang and Zhou Dynasties "chopsticks" when he wrote Historical Records, and wrote them as ancient "wooden chopsticks". The Han dynasty appeared again. "
chopsticks
The word "embarrassed". Li Bai's poem "Difficult to Walk" in Sui and Tang Dynasties said: "If you don't drink, you won't eat"; Du Fu's poem "Two Ways" said: "The rhinoceros is tired of drinking for a long time, and the knife is cut empty." From the poems of two great poets, we know that the words "Yao" and "Yao" are common in the Tang Dynasty. But since the Tang Dynasty, the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties have all been called "Miao". However, the name Zhu did not remain in the end, but changed in the Ming Dynasty. In Lu Rong's Garden Miscellaneous Notes in the Ming Dynasty, it was said that Wu people were afraid of saying that "ju" and "chopsticks" were homophonic, so they changed "chopsticks to be quick". Because the boat people and fishermen in Wuzhong are particularly taboo about "chopsticks", they are most afraid of "staying" in the boat. If the ship stops, the boatman will have no business. They are even more afraid that boats will "eat" and wooden boats will "eat" how to fish. Guided by this superstitious homophonic thought, the antonym of "chopsticks" is called "chopsticks" for good luck. Li Yuheng, a scholar in the Ming Dynasty, said more clearly in Pushing Yu Yu Language: "Those who are afraid of bad words and say good words, if they are lazy, call them fast. Today, because it has been circulating for a long time, even those who are called "fast men" among scholars have forgotten their beginning. " Although some people called chopsticks "chopsticks" in the Ming Dynasty, Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty did not admit that people would soon prefix the word "chopsticks" with bamboo. Kangxi Dictionary only accepts chopsticks and does not accept chopsticks, which can prove this point. However, it is difficult for the emperor to resist the trend that people are afraid of taboos and like to draw lots orally. Forty times in A Dream of Red Mansions, Cao Xueqin called it "chopsticks" three times, "embarrassing" twice and wrote "chopsticks" directly four times.
In today's society, the names of chopsticks have become commonplace. However, experts and scholars still call chopsticks "chopsticks" or "chopsticks" in calligraphy, poetry and articles, instead of "forgetting the roots" as Peng Yu said.
The earliest king who used ivory chopsticks.
China is the birthplace of chopsticks, and eating with chopsticks has a long history. The ancient book "Han Fei Zi Yu Lao"
Chopsticks (19)
It reads: "The former is like a hairpin, and Ji Zi is afraid." Sima Qian also said in Shi Ji Zong Shi Jia that "it is an elephant, sighing: if it is an elephant, it must be a jade cup; For Yubei, it must be a strange thing in Siyuan Town. The gradual progress of the Horse Palace has been unshakable since then. " Although this is a statement that luxury life caused courtiers to fear, it provides us with the most valuable written historical materials to trace the birth and development of Zhu from the court events caused by ivory chopsticks. Zhou was the monarch in the late Shang Dynasty. Based on this calculation, refined ivory chopsticks appeared in China around 1 144 BC, that is, more than 3 100 years ago.
Some people also doubt the record of "knowing each other" in ancient books. They think there are no elephants in Henan, Hebei and other places, where can there be teeth? According to archaeological research, Oracle Bone Inscriptions unearthed in Shang Dynasty has the word "Xiang", and there are records of "Fu Xiang" and "Lai Xiang". There is also a phrase "merchant image" in Lu's Spring and Autumn Ancient Music. According to this article "The Covenant of Elephants", that is to say, the trunk is also a kind of food. It can be seen that there are many elephants in Yuanye in the Yin and Shang Dynasties. It is precisely because of the hunting of elephants in Shang Dynasty that it is possible to "become an elephant".
China's use of chopsticks has always been recorded in words, but there is a lack of physical evidence. The relief of chopsticks found in an ancient Han stove collected by China Kitchen Culture Museum fills the gap in the material evidence of chopsticks and is the only known material evidence at present. Its exquisiteness is comparable to that of modern chopsticks. It is a national treasure of the present age and has high historical research value. Through this relief of chopsticks, we can not only prove that people in the Han Dynasty were already using chopsticks, but also reflect the rich living conditions and diversity of people at that time.
Taboo editing in usage
Han people eat with chopsticks, which has been passed down since ancient times. It was also called "chopsticks" in ancient times. The use of chopsticks in daily life is very particular. Generally speaking, when we use chopsticks, the correct way to use them is to hold the chopsticks with the right hand, hold the upper end of the chopsticks with the thumb and forefinger, and hold the chopsticks with the other three fingers naturally bent, and the two ends of the chopsticks must be aligned. In the use process, chopsticks must be placed neatly on the right side of the rice bowl before eating, and must be placed neatly in the middle of the rice bowl after eating. And it is absolutely forbidden to use the following thirteen kinds of chopsticks.
Unexpected misfortune
This means putting chopsticks of different lengths on the table before or during meals. This is unlucky. Usually we call it "three long and two short". It means "death". Because in the past, people in China thought that people should be put into coffins after death, and when the coffins were put in and not covered, the coffins were composed of two short boards, three long boards at the bottom of both sides, and five boards were put together, just three long and two short. So this is extremely unlucky.
Immortal guidance
This extremely unacceptable method of holding chopsticks is to hold chopsticks with thumb, middle finger, ring finger and little finger while extending the index finger. This is called "cursing the street". Because when eating, the index finger always points at others. Generally, when pointing at each other with your index finger, most of them mean accusation. Therefore, pointing chopsticks at people while eating is tantamount to accusing others, which is the same as swearing. This is not allowed. Another situation is this meaning, that is, talking to others and pointing at people with chopsticks while eating.
Pinpin Liu Sheng
This practice is to put one end of chopsticks in your mouth, carry it with your mouth, and hiss from time to time. This kind of behavior is considered a despicable practice, because it is impolite to hold chopsticks with your mouth while eating, and the sound is even more annoying, so this practice is generally considered to be the lack of family education and cannot be allowed.
Knock on the cup
This behavior is regarded as begging by beggars. The way to do this is to knock on plates and bowls with chopsticks when eating, because in the past, only beggars knocked on begging bowls with chopsticks, and the sound was accompanied by cries in their mouths to attract the attention of pedestrians and give alms. This practice is considered extremely despicable and despised by others. As the saying goes, "Knock on bowls and chopsticks all your life."
Patrol the city
This practice is to do nothing with chopsticks in your hand, and use chopsticks to go back and forth in the dishes on the table to find where to get chopsticks. This kind of behavior is typical of lack of self-cultivation, arrogance and extreme nausea.
Dig a grave by mistake.
This refers to looking for prey in a dish with chopsticks, just like robbing a grave. This practice is similar to "visiting the city", which is both uneducated and boring.
Tears and beads
This is the time to pick up the dishes on your plate with chopsticks and spill the soup into other dishes or on the table in your hand. This practice is considered to be a serious faux pas, and it is also undesirable.
Invert heaven and earth
This means that chopsticks are used upside down when eating, which is very despised. As the saying goes, you are too hungry to care about your face. Never turn chopsticks upside down.
Key holder
It is unacceptable to use chopsticks to hold dishes on a plate while eating, which is considered as a shame for diners at the same table. Making such a move while eating is tantamount to pointing the middle finger at people in public in Europe, which is also unacceptable.
Incense in public places
Often out of kindness, when helping others to fill their meals, they will put a pair of chopsticks in their meals and hand them to each other, which is convenient and convenient. It will be regarded as disrespectful, because it is only done when the dead burn incense. If you put a pair of chopsticks in the rice, it will be considered as burning incense for the dead, so it is absolutely impossible to put chopsticks in the bowl.
decussation
This point is often overlooked by people. It is wrong to cross chopsticks casually on the table when eating. Bifurcation at the dinner table is a total denial of others at the same table, just like the fact that students' wrong homework is bifurcated by the teacher in this book is unacceptable to others. In addition, this practice is also disrespectful to myself, because in the past, I only used a fork to confess when I was in court, which is undoubtedly denying myself, and this is also not acceptable.
Shocked by the landing
The so-called "landing" means accidentally dropping chopsticks on the ground, which is a serious rude performance. Because people think that all ancestors are buried underground and should not be disturbed, it is unfilial to disturb the ancestors underground when chopsticks fall on the ground, so this behavior is not allowed. But there is a way to break it. Once the chopsticks fall on the ground, you should quickly draw a cross on the ground with the chopsticks that have fallen on the ground according to the direction in which you sit. The direction is east first, then west, then north and south, which means I shouldn't disturb my ancestors, and then I pick up chopsticks and say that I should die at the same time.
Confronted with censure-condemned by the public.
Usually this kind of article is indecent, but now many people violate this custom. "A thousand fingers" means that when drinking or chatting, you don't use chopsticks, but put the chopsticks rack between the dish and the console table. Its chopsticks are often pointed high, which is very impolite to diners. It is similar to the above-mentioned "immortal leading the way", which means insulting or accusing others.
The history of mankind is an evolutionary history. With the improvement of cooking methods, its tableware has been continuously developed. In primitive society, everyone grabbed food with their hands. In the Neolithic Age, most of our ancestors lived by cooking. Mi Dou, the staple food, is boiled into porridge with water, while vegetables and meat, the non-staple food, are boiled into soup. It is extremely inconvenient to remove vegetables and meat from the soup, but it is convenient to pick up the leaves with chopsticks. Therefore, the Book of Rites Quli says, "Soup has food, and soup has food." Zheng Xuan noticed that "it's still embarrassing." Therefore, soup was the mainstream in the Neolithic Age, so it was very inconvenient to drink soup with a spoon, and it was even more impossible to catch hot thin soup with your hands, so chopsticks became the most ideal tableware.
In short, the emergence of chopsticks is not isolated. As early as the middle Neolithic Age, daggers and spoons were found in Yangshao cultural sites. When history advanced to the late Neolithic Age, people's wisdom developed to a certain extent and their living conditions improved. Eating with a spoon alone can no longer adapt to the evolution of cooking, and the appearance of chopsticks conforms to this trend. But in the Xia Dynasty 4,000 years ago, Zhu was still in its embryonic stage. After hundreds of years of continuous evolution, two sticks with the same length were gradually formed in the Shang Tang era. Then it developed to the end of the Shang Dynasty. In order to meet the needs of his king's luxurious aristocratic life, he ordered elephant hunting and saw teeth to make elephant chopsticks.
Because the birth history of Biography is not recorded, we can only trace the birth of Biography according to various inferences and circumstantial evidence of some experts, but we believe that the appearance of Biography is the inevitable result of historical deduction.
Our ancestors invented chopsticks related to food. The Han people started their farming lifestyle very early, and the main crop is millet (millet) with strong adaptability. Millet granules have two characteristics, one is that the granules are small, and the other is that the skin is rough and not easy to remove. At the beginning, our ancestors may have mashed grains (millet) to cook porridge, and often mixed some wild vegetables and leaves to cook together, in order to improve the taste and save food. According to textual research, the original meaning of the word "tea" is porridge mixed with wild vegetables and leaves. Today, there is a kind of food called "Camellia oleifera" in the northwest of China. Stir-fry the flour with sheep oil, and then mix some sweet almonds. You can rinse it with hot water when eating. The word "tea" in the word "Camellia oleifera" here is used in its original meaning. Up to now, Cantonese people call breakfast "morning tea", but the "tea" actually used is closer to the original meaning. In Hunan accent, the word "eat" is pronounced as "tea", which is very close to the pronunciation of "tea". In some areas of northern China, "boiled corn porridge" is called "sticky porridge". Similarly, "kneading" is homophonic with "tea". All these phenomena show that "tea" is a kind of food. Tea is more troublesome to eat, in which wild vegetables and leaves will hinder the flow of tea, and tea is not easy to drink. This is the key to the invention of chopsticks by our ancestors.
Westerners are nomadic people, and food is roasted meat pieces that can be cut into small pieces and eaten in their hands. The staple food of Indians is rice, which is easy to shell and can be boiled into balls, grabbed or eaten by hand. The daily food of our ancestors is tea, which is a viscous semi-liquid food. We can't catch it with our hands, nor can we fish wild vegetables and leaves that affect it with our hands. There may be a clever ancient man holding a small wooden stick and trying to put wild vegetables or leaves in his mouth. This is the original form of chopsticks. The earliest name of chopsticks is "Zhu", and the traditional writing of the word "Zhu" is "A". As can be seen from the pronunciation and shape, the most primitive function of chopsticks is to help eat, and it is not an indispensable dining tool. But at that time, sticks and the like could not be called chopsticks. Chopsticks are called chopsticks mainly because people must have the skills to use chopsticks, and the skills to use chopsticks need hard practice to master. After our ancestors discovered the method of stirring wild leaves in tea with small sticks, they would imitate it one after another, and finally fixed the number of small sticks to two. Practice makes perfect. Ancient people became more and more skilled in using small sticks until they turned two small sticks up and down, as flexible as fingers, and chopsticks were born. Here, I define chopsticks as two small sticks and their use skills, both of which are indispensable.
China, North Korea, South Korea, Japan,
Chinese in Vietnam, Mongolia, Singapore and Malaysia. There are two kinds of eating tools in other countries: European, American and Latin American countries that use knives, forks and spoons; Countries that use hand-grabbed rice include Africa, West Asia, India and Southeast Asia, except Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia.
China
In China, chopsticks are not only used for eating, but also widely used in folk customs such as weddings, funerals and celebrations. The shape of China chopsticks is almost cuboid or cylinder, or the head is round and the tail is square (coincident with the "circle"). Only the head and tail are slightly thinner, and pointed chopsticks are also very popular. Because bamboo grows rapidly and widely, the utilization rate of bamboo chopsticks is high, and chopsticks made of traditional precious materials such as mahogany and ivory are also very useful. Chopsticks spread to other ethnic groups, such as Miao, Tibetan, Mongolian, Hui, Manchu, Zhuang and Miao, shortly after their popularity in Han nationality. Although they all have their own eating habits, they often use chopsticks, which is often inseparable from customs and religious ceremonies. However, there are also many ethnic minorities in China who are famous for their traditional eating habits, such as Uygur, Kazak and Li.
Japan
The Japanese inherited China's inherent chopsticks manufacturing technology, but also creatively localized it. Japan
chopsticks
There are many styles of popular pointed chopsticks, which are usually made of wood and colored. Their names follow the ancient saying "はし, hash" in China, and there are giant long chopsticks specially used for cooking, which are called "dishes" in Japanese.
Korean peninsula
Koreans are the first place outside China to introduce chopsticks culture. For more than 1000 years, they have divided the functions of tableware very carefully. They eat with spoons and chopsticks, and regard the habit of eating with a rice bowl as irregular (they think it is only for beggars to beg), so they can't touch the rice bowl with their mouths. Because of the war, in order to make chopsticks more durable, their chopsticks are all made of two flat metal pieces, which are called "chopsticks". Etymology is the pronunciation of the Chinese character "Zhu"? "(jeo) add the idiom"? " (garak, meaning stick). Add "?" Is it because of "?" Happened in the standard language of Middle Korean? With "?" The confluence of. In some Korean dialects, the names of chopsticks are still monosyllabic. .
Viet Nam
Vietnam used chopsticks very early, although it was colonized by France for a long time and accepted western culture.
Japanese, Korean and China Chopsticks.
Influence, but still maintain the tradition of using chopsticks. What's the name of chopsticks? "A" comes from the Chinese character "Zhu" (middle ancient sound H, H), but it is not a Sino-Vietnamese sound.
Southeast Asia
In modern times, influenced by local Chinese, chopsticks are also used to it in Thailand. For example, when they enjoy local flavor meals, they must eat hot pot and use chopsticks. Chinese in Malaysia and Singapore, which account for 77% of the population, still use chopsticks. Even Malays and some foreigners use chopsticks, and restaurants provide chopsticks to their guests. The traditional eating habits of aborigines in Southeast Asian countries, except Vietnam, are all famous for "catching rice", including the Philippines, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia and Indonesia.
the west
Matteo Ricci, an Italian, introduced chopsticks to Europe earlier, and his Notes on China also described the culture and usage of chopsticks. With overseas Chinese moving to Europe and America, chopsticks are no strangers in the west, and many families have chopsticks. The French Tourism Association has formulated the "Golden Chopsticks Award" to commend the excellent Chinese food industry; There is a "Chopsticks Museum" in Germany, which contains thousands of chopsticks from different historical periods.
Differences between chopsticks in China, Japan and Korea
China: It's made of bamboo, slightly longer, with a round head and a square tail. (China eats a big table and chopsticks are long and convenient.)
Japan: woody, slightly short, with a sharp and thick tail. (Japanese eat alone, chopsticks don't need to be long)
Korea: Multi-metal, medium, flat in shape. Koreans barbecue a lot, so metal, plus the tradition of using metal tableware. )
The correct posture and usage of chopsticks are not unique, but they are all similar.
How to hold chopsticks
The chopsticks on it are controlled by thumb, forefinger and middle finger. It is very important that the chopsticks below should be fixed, only the chopsticks above should be moved, and then the food should be caught.
When the heads of two chopsticks are closed and the tips of chopsticks are aligned, it is easy to pick up food.
Usually, there are two ways to hold chopsticks. Put your hands on the back part, and the fingertip contact position is in the middle part of chopsticks.
Traditional common 1
The chopsticks on the top are controlled by thumb, index finger and middle finger: the thumb, index finger and middle finger hold it and the chopsticks on the top can move.
The chopsticks below should be fixed (usually held down by the lower jaw and ring finger), and only the chopsticks above should move to hold the food.
Common 2
The chopsticks on the top are controlled by thumb and forefinger: the thumb and forefinger hold them, and the ones on the top can move.
The chopsticks below should be fixed (generally held down by the lower jaw and middle finger), and only the chopsticks above should be moved to hold the food.
other
The heads of the two chopsticks are closed, and the chopsticks are clamped together end to end.
Try to hold it with the tip of chopsticks, and if necessary, put your left hand under the food to prevent the food from dripping before it is sent to your mouth [6]
Etiquette editor used
After picking up food, you shouldn't put it back on the plate.
You can't point at people with chopsticks when eating, and you can't point with chopsticks.
You can't stick chopsticks into a bowl of rice or rice. This is the way the ancestral offerings are placed, which is ominous. See the end of the meal.
Don't compete with other people's chopsticks.
Don't move chopsticks (and spoons) in front of the host when you go to eat.
In some countries, we will wait for the guests (or the oldest person present) to start eating.
In the process of eating, you raise your chopsticks, but you don't know which dish to eat. At this time, don't move chopsticks back and forth in each dish or swim in the air, and don't pick up the dish and turn it back and forth.
Talk while eating, don't use chopsticks as props, and dance at will; Or beat the food on the table with chopsticks and point at others with chopsticks. Put down chopsticks gently every time you use them, and try not to make any noise.
Please adopt! ! ! !