Does anybody know when Chopsticks first came into use?

I think chopsticks come into use in China arounds 5000 years ago ,it also used by Mongolia and Ugygur people in China .

Cool, wonder if that makes it the world's oldest and most used utensil.

It was discovered 3000 years ago in China.

If you can read Chinese (I think you could, because you said you're Cantonese) then the site below would be helpful. There are also some stories about chopsticks:
http://www.shaanxi.cn/sx_into/sqsh/qsgj/dtsjkz.asp

I think the earliest physical evidence dates back to the Shang, 3500 odd years ago at the earliest.

But is it true that the two sticks were not separated (like tongs) until the 10th century?

What made you ask that?

Chopsticks joined at the ends are not much use as chopsticks, and certainly a lot more troublesome to make than a pair of sticks.

Actually, although I should be able to read Chinese, I can't , but thank you for the link. Also, thanks for those replies. Chopsticks are great utensils!

from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chopsticks

thanks for the chinese link, orchid dreams! my grasp of simplified text is horrible at best, but i didn't manage to get the gist of the info; not enough to attempt a translation, however.

I read it in quite a few places. But always in the context of Japanese chopstick history, so maybe that only applies to Japanese chopsticks.

Apart from Chinese culture, has any other culture indepedently discovered chopsticks as utensils?

(Hi Damo, look forward to seeing you this weekend! )

not that i'm aware. i tried to google, but so far haven't found anything. so, i guess, for now, we can assume the chopsticks originated in china alone.

I can imagine that such a chopstick would be used much easier for beginners though.

Zunjing de China History Forum members,

I am curious as to do all the East Asian countries eat with chopsticks?

From what I have heard from my parents, the Indians eat with their hands. They have a lot of crafty hand maneuvers just for eating.

I have read an article online stating that despite serving people with chopsticks, the Koreans use their spoons rather than the chopsticks to eat the rice bowl and various other dishes.

I am not really certain regarding the above information; hence, I would really appreciate it if someone can verify, give me some more information, or direct me to some accurate sources!

Xie Xie,

Crafty? I don't think it's that complicated, but maybe no one taught me those techniques.

At least for the North Indians, for whom chapattis/rotis and other Indian breads are a staple, eating with fingers is easier. Just tear, fold and scoop.

It gets a lot messier for South Indians, with their rice-based diet.

Personally, I think the spoon is the best implement for eating rice-curry. Although fingers are still the only viable option when it comes to Indian breads.

I wonder what is special for Japanese chopsticks? People must be genius in using chopsticks with joined ends. At this point, I would rather use spoon.

In Southeast Asia, chopsticks are still used widely, but are mainly restricted to ethnic chinese homes, restaurants and eateries. In places where a lot of non-chinese eat, forks and spoons are used. I would estimate that in terms of likelihood of finding chopsticks in that part of the world, the order of some countries will be - Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia. Very much according to the level of chinese influence in existence. For me, I prefer the sticks at home. Outside, anything goes...

The fact about chopsticks is that it is very good for food that is alreadycut up in small pieces. But, there appears to be one potential problem with using chopsticks. Say, at a chinese style wedding dinner, 10 or more pairs of sticks chopping away at the same dish directly may cause contamination, a hygiene issue?

By the way, Korean chopsticks are mostly made of steel. Unlike the bamboo ones, I find them too heavy.

When it comes to a Chinese banquet or any dinner, I always use the serving utensil to get my food. I might use my chopstick in the beginning, but not after I ate something with it.

This I believe is only true in some costlier places.

In most restaurants in cities in China, I observed that as a rule, the communal utensils are not given unless they are requested. I am just wondering if in general, this "hygiene factor" is on people's mind or not, and if the communal utensils are becoming a new standard practice.

One simple expedient, which can even be used in the home but I suspect only exceptionally, is to invert your chopsticks when getting food from communal plates and then use the "business end" to eat with.

Zunjing de Rooster,

I don’t really like to socialize. Well, I do, but not at the place where I live. Hence, I don’t really go out very much, so I really don’t know how the restaurants will serve people.

In my (extended) family, we would always eat lunch and dinner together using chopsticks. Of course, each member would have his/her own pair. However, we would use the same end of the chopsticks to eat and dig at the communal plates. Honestly, I did not really see it being a problem until you guys have mentioned it. I surmise with many people “eating” from the same communal plates, contamination would later become a factor. With this in mind, using communal spoons/chopsticks to get your food is perhaps the best solution. Using one end of the chopsticks to eat, and another one to get the food from the communal plates is also a good idea; however, your hands might get a little messy after a while.

My family has I think bamboo chopsticks, or are they wood? I know some people use red/beige plastic chopsticks, anybody use anything different?

There are ones made from bamboo, wood, plastic, bones, steel, bronze, silver, etc.
I prefer bamboo, by far.

I personnally think that one can eat faster with a spoon than with chopsticks , especially when you're at the end of your bowl or plate of rice . That makes me think that it could be the reason why Chinese still use chopsticks , & maybe created them : that's because eating too fast is not ealthy , & not good for digestion ; with chopsticks, one can simply not eat too fast.
O.k., i have no way to prove that...

Chopsticks are actually better for stuff in pieces you can pick up. Noodles too, but a bit less so. Rice usually requires the aid of a spoon.

I use chopsticks for eating bite-sized snacks like Cheetos and Corn Curls too - keeps me from coating my fingers with cheese and/or grease.

Zunjing de Heijingling,

Hmm, you have brought up an interesting point. I have never actually thought about the purpose of using chopsticks since I have instantly used them at a very young age.

It is quite obvious that one can eat faster with a spoon or a fork. However, when it comes to delicate situations, then it is much more efficient to use chopsticks. I surmise they both have their pros and cons. Eating too fast may be sort of unhealthy; however, it definitely saves a lot of time, so that you can do other things in your hectic schedule(s).

IMO, spoon/fork and chopsticks all represent the difference(s) in cultures between the East and the West. Spoon/fork represents the fast and efficient way of life for the West, while the chopstick is a symbol for the slow, but steady and delicate style of life for the East.

Perhaps I may be thinking this too far or thinking it in a wrong direction?

Xie Xie,

Eating with chopsticks isn't that hard and sometimes it can be faster than other utensils, like when eating a salad for example or mixing up a salad. Or noodles. Picking up rice I usually kind of scoop up chunks and at the bottom I hold up the bowl and scoop up the rice. By the way, there is at least two ways of holding a chopstick did you know that? I don't follow the way you see on all those examples on how to hold a chopstick, my family has a different way.

Chopsticks was invented by ShangFu, the last Shang Emperor.

I can't hold chopsticks the "proper" way with my middle fingers.
I hold it like a pencil...

I don't care how you hold your chopsticks. as long as you can use it to get food, that's great.

Hi all =D
im new to this forum and i registered because i was interested in chinese culture.
Im currently doing a chinese study for school and a task of mine was to research a topic related to China in detail.
I chose to research the culture and history of chopsticks in China and i was wondering if any of you could help me in any way possible by contributing and facts or recommending any good websites or books.

I have gathered some facts from the internet but they were pretty brief about the history and culture of chopsticks, and i was just wondering if you guys could teach me about well as much history and culture about chopsticks in China as possible.

Thanks guys =]

Refer to this thread on the historical origin of chopsticks in China
http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?showtopic=17696

Chopsticks were invented in China not only as a tool in eating, but later also became a form of art.

For chinese chopsticks history, culture and art, refer to China's Chopstick Net at http://www.yunhong.cn/ (For English info, refer to http://en.yunhong.cn) . The english site also contains some good information on chinese chopsticks history/culture.