On chopsticks culture

China is an ancient country with a civilization history of more than 5000 years. Its splendid culture is dazzling. Among them, chopsticks culture is the culture with local characteristics of the Chinese nation.
At the same time, chopsticks, as the product of civilization, bear the human diet and social culture. These two simple sticks, seven or eight inches long and as thin as little fingers, look ordinary, but they carry heavy culture and etiquette.
It applies the lever principle of physics perfectly, shows its skill on the table flexibly, and vividly interprets the traditional culture of the Chinese nation.
From birth to popularity, a pair of chopsticks is not only the evolution of tableware but also the process of cultural communication
Chopsticks, also known in ancient times as "Jiao", "Jiao", "Zheng", etc.
As early as 3000 years ago, in the Shang and Zhou dynasties, there was a saying that "rice and millet should not be eaten with a spoon" and "soup should be eaten with a spoon".
Because most of "kuaizi" is made of bamboo, the word "kuaizi" is added with the word "bamboo" to form a new word "chopsticks"
There are many kinds of chopsticks, including bamboo chopsticks, ivory chopsticks, and jade chopsticks.
In the spring and Autumn period, copper chopsticks and iron chopsticks came out
In Han Dynasty, lacquer chopsticks came into being
After that, there were gold chopsticks and silver chopsticks.
Generally speaking, chopsticks are mostly made of bamboo. The "Tianzhu chopsticks" made of small bamboo are popular in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The famous chopsticks are those made of bamboo springs in Jiang'an Sichuan Province. They won the medal at Panama International Expo in 1919.
It is said that the traditional bamboo spring chopsticks with lion's head on one pair of chopsticks can only be made by carving 300 to 400 knives on two lion's heads alone
With the development of science, now there are plastic chopsticks, plexiglass chopsticks, sanitary chopsticks and so on
Chopsticks have a long history and rich contents of chopsticks culture
First of all, there are many descriptions of chopsticks in the poems of all dynasties. For example, in Li Bai's "the road is hard", there is a sentence "stop drinking, throw the cup, throw the sheath and cannot eat". This is a vivid portrayal of Li Bai's sad mood of being unable to eat when he left Beijing in 744 because he lost his position of "worshiping the imperial forest" because of his power and slander.
Bai Juyi also has a poem saying: "white cup, green bamboo chopsticks, thrifty and clean without smell", which shows the poet's advocacy and praise for simple and innocent life.
Zhao Kai, a contemporary poet, has a poem praising chopsticks: "you can hold up the poetic and picturesque feeling / you can't put down the feeling of separation / two bamboos can build a bridge / a small bridge calls you back
”Vivid image and profound artistic conception
From ancient times to modern times, there are many allusions about chopsticks: "chopsticks play the piano" is a good story recorded in the spring Zhu Chronicle
Liu Yun once wrote a poem in the Southern Song Dynasty. While he was brewing, he used his pen to play the piano. Some of the disciples picked up chopsticks to play the harmonica.
Liu Yun was very surprised at the sad rhyme played by the door guests, so he changed the poem into an elegant sound.
"Bestowing a shield to show straightness" is another beautiful talk recorded in the bequest of Kaiyuan Tianbao
When song Jing was Prime Minister, the government praised him for his virtue
One spring, Emperor Xuanzong held a royal banquet in Qujiang and gave song Jing a pair of gold chopsticks.
Although song Jing received the reward, he didn't know why he was honored with "dare not give thanks to Chen." Emperor Xuanzong of Tang explained, "it's not to give you money, it's to give you chopsticks to show your integrity.
”Song Jingcai kowtows to thank you
The story of "turning things into sticks" tells us that the emperor decided to marry Princess Yongfu at first after he was promoted to an official position in the late Tang Dynasty. However, the princess did not eat with the emperor according to the etiquette but broke the chopsticks instead.
Therefore, the emperor knew that the princess's ambition was invincible and could not force her to marry Yu.
This anecdote has added to chopsticks the unswerving character of "breaking rather than bending"
There are more legends about planning with chopsticks in history.
For example, Zhang Liang, a counselor of Han Dynasty, planned to reject Xiang Yu for Liu Bang, Han Congli predicted good and bad luck and evil for Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty to go to Beijing to pacify the chaos, Zhao Da predicted the rise and fall of Wu Kingdom by means of Zhou, etc.
During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao entertained Liu Bei, and during the banquet, he said: "heroes in the world, only the emperor and Cao er
”Liu Bei pretends to be afraid of landing his chopsticks and swindles Cao Cao when thunder rings outside the window
There is also a joke about choosing the prime minister with chopsticks: when the emperor of the late Tang Dynasty chose the prime minister in the Five Dynasties, he did not know who to choose, so he wrote the names of the candidates one by one, put them in the glass bottle, and then use chopsticks to clip them up, holding the names of the candidates, who would be the prime minister
Chopsticks have many special functions in ceremonial banquet and wedding and funeral customs
For example, in Song Dynasty, men and women's engagement gifts were recorded as a pair of "gateways". In modern folk, it is also popular to put chopsticks into the bride's dowry to make her mouth colorful.
When Yangzhou is in the cave, some people throw chopsticks into it from the window, which is also the auspice of "giving birth to your son quickly"
During the wedding ceremony of Achang ethnic minority, the groom is required to use long chopsticks to put fine flour and tofu inside and outside the bamboo tube, which can also test the sincerity and patience of the groom during the fun.
The custom of using new chopsticks at the beginning of a year to wish good luck for the coming year still exists in many areas of China.
Chopsticks are also used in dance
The Mongolian "chopsticks dance" is an example. The dancers hold a bunch of chopsticks, knock on their shoulders, hands, waist, legs and other parts, while playing and dancing, the rhythm is strong, and the dancing posture is beautiful.
There is also a dance in which chopsticks are used to knock dishes. The rhythmic sound of hitting dishes is accompanied by a beautiful dance posture, which is unique.
Some chopsticks, known as "Oriental civilization" by foreigners, have entered the palace of art.
For example, chopsticks made of gold, silver, ivory or even jade or agate, or chopsticks carved with various patterns and words, are of special ornamental and collection value.
Nowadays, chopsticks have become a kind of collection, the most expensive of which is the gold chopsticks owned by an old overseas Chinese in Indonesia and used by a princess in Ming Dynasty, worth about 8 million US dollars.
Germany has a unique chopsticks Museum in the world, displaying more than 10000 pairs of chopsticks made of different materials, such as gold, silver, jade, animal bones, etc., from different regions and historical periods
Mr. Lan Xiang, Shanghai Branch of Chinese folk artists, carefully collected chopsticks and related folk stories 10 years ago. Now, he has collected thousands of chopsticks and hundreds of chopsticks cages made of pottery, porcelain, brick and bamboo, making him one of the few chopsticks collectors in China.
The hometown of chopsticks in China, chopsticks culture has a long history, colorful