MUZIChinese Matrix
Chopsticks and Spoons · FFET10424
Chopsticks work in pairs to pick up food, with table customs governing their use at shared meals.
How chopsticks and spoons are held and used, and the rules and taboos of using them.
Chopsticks, also called zhu, are paired eating utensils used across China. Commonly observed table customs include avoiding standing them upright in rice, pointing them at people, tapping bowls with them, or rummaging through shared dishes.
Chopsticks are paired utensils for picking up food, formerly called zhu. Their use is accompanied by table customs for shared meals.1
A third-century BCE Warring States text tells a story about ivory chopsticks. This establishes their presence in the text, rather than a date for their invention. A ritual text compiled in the Han period also records rules for their use. An account of Northern Song eating shops describes a change from spoons to chopsticks.2,3,4
Chopsticks are used across China and in places including Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, with differences in form. Common Chinese chopsticks are relatively long, blunt-tipped, and made of bamboo or wood; Japanese chopsticks tend to have pointed tips, while Korean forms commonly use flat metal.1
Common customs include avoiding standing chopsticks upright in rice, pointing at people, tapping bowls, or rummaging through shared dishes. These are commonly held practices rather than uniform rules followed by everyone. Older shared-meal etiquette also includes not returning bitten fish or meat to a communal dish.1,3
One common explanation links the avoidance of upright chopsticks in rice to their resemblance to ancestral offerings. An explanation of the name says that boat people in the Wu region called them kuaizi because zhu sounded like the word for stopping.1
An account of reformed banquet arrangements calls for a shared bowl and chopsticks at the center of the table for serving, with private bowls and chopsticks for eating. This separates the chopsticks used for eating from those used for serving.5
An ancient tale says that King Zhou made ivory chopsticks, alarming Jizi: ivory chopsticks would call for jade cups, followed by rare foods and grand halls. The pair of chopsticks becomes a warning about a growing appetite for luxury, rather than evidence of how chopsticks were invented.
Told in: Told in a Warring States text and later retold in historical writings and popular books.
