Why do Chinese people use chopsticks? What are the Chinese chopsticks etiquette?

Chopsticks originated from folklore:

Anyone who has used chopsticks, regardless of Chinese or foreigners, admire the inventors of chopsticks. But who invented it? When did it create it? No one can answer this question now. In ancient China, there is no way to record this great contribution to human civilization. I wonder if our ancestors lacked words at the time, or the books that recorded chopsticks were lost. In short, the only answer to this unsolved case is "history." No record" four words. Of course, studying chopsticks culture is not a collateral material. The author has collected three legends about the origin of chopsticks.

Folklore is a story written by working people related to certain historical figures, historical events, and social customs. Although the legend is also a story, it is different from the story: the story can be fabricated as desired, but the legend is often a historical product associated with the actual thing, so it contains some historical real factors and has a certain historical significance. Features. Therefore, the legend about the origin of chopsticks can find some reference for the traceability of chopsticks.

"God bird saves ginger teeth", the chopsticks legend spread in Sichuan and other places

Ginger teeth will only be hooked to fishing, and nothing else will happen, so it is very poor. And his wife can't follow the hardships, just want to die and he marries another.

On this day, Jiangzifang fishing returned to his home empty-handed. His wife said, "You are hungry. I have burned the meat for you. You eat it!" Jiangzi was really hungry, and he reached for the meat. A bird suddenly flew out of the window. He took a sip of him, he was sore, ah ah - one sound, the meat did not eat, busy to catch birds. When he went to get the meat for the second time, the bird licked the back of his hand. The ginger tooth is suspicious, why did the bird swear at me twice, can't I eat this meat? In order to test the bird, he went to grab the meat for the third time, when the bird came to marry him again.

He knew that this was a god bird, so he was carrying a bird, and he kept chasing the door and went straight to an unmanned hillside. He saw the god bird on a bamboo tree and sang and sang: "Ginger teeth, ginger teeth, eat The meat can't be grasped by the hand, and the meat is under my feet..." Jiang Ziya listened to the pointing finger of the bird, and picked up two silk bamboos and returned home. At this time, his wife urged him to eat meat, so Jiang Ziya reached two thin bamboos into the bowl, just wanted to lick the meat, only to see a silky green smoke. Jiang Ziya pretended not to know about the poisoning, and said to his wife: "How can the meat smoke? Is it poisonous?" No poison, you know that silk can not touch the meat. "I really don't have poison, then you eat one.", said Jiang's teeth, he took the meat and sent it to his wife's mouth. His wife's face was scarred and she fled the door.

Jiang Ziya understands that this bamboo is the god bamboo sent by the god bird. Any poison can be detected. From then on, every meal is served with two silk bamboos. After the incident came out, his wife not only dared to poison, but also the four neighbors also learned to eat with bamboo branches, and more and more people followed suit. The custom of eating with chopsticks was passed down from generation to generation.

This legend is obviously a product of worshiping Jiang Ziya, which is not in accordance with the historical records. Because of the ivory scorpion in the Yin dynasty era, Jiang Ziya and Yin Yin Wang are people of the same age. Since the king is already using ivory chopsticks, the fineness of the ginger tooth Bamboo chopsticks can't talk about any inventions.

Shang Yu Wang Cang Yi has used jade hair leek to feed the king. It is a chopstick legend that has been circulated in Jiangsu.
Shangyu Wang is moody. When eating, it is not that the fish is not fresh. That is to say, the chicken soup is too hot. Sometimes the dishes are cold and can't be imported. Many chefs have become the ghosts of his knife for the meal. Pampering himself also knows that he is difficult to serve, so every time she has a banquet, she has tasted it beforehand, lest the king must be angry again.

On one occasion, the sister had tasted that the bowl of food was too hot, but the replacement was too late because the king had come to the table. In order to please the king of the king, he was eager to take care of his life. He took the long jade on his head and took the dish and blew it to the mouth of the king. The king of the king is a shameless person. He believes that it is a pleasure to feed the leeks, so he has to do it every day. Later, he had asked the craftsmen to make two jade dishes for her. This was the original form of jade chopsticks. Later, this method of amaranth was passed to the people, so China produced chopsticks.

This chopsticks legend is not like the first legend is full of mythology but relatively close to life, it has some practical significance, but even if it is legendary, it still does not match the facts. Because the archaeologists excavated the gongs in the Yin Tomb of No. 1005, Houjiazhuang, Anyang, it was proved that the chopsticks were not invented by the king, but also by the sisters. It should be earlier. Product.

"The big food is made from branches and bamboo, and the hot food in the pan" is the legend of chopsticks that have been circulated in the Tohoku region.

In the era of the shackles, floods flooded into disasters and killed the rivers. After being ordered, Daxie vowed to clear the floods for the people, so he did not enter the house. He wrestles with the fierce waves every day and night, not to mention rest, that is, eating and sleeping can not bear to delay a minute.

Once there was a big boat trip to an island, the hunger was unbearable, and the pot was set up to cook the meat. After the meat was boiled, the meat could not be eaten by hand because it was hot, and the cockroaches were not willing to wait for the meat pot to cool and waste time. The next two branches took the meat out of the soup and ate it. Since then, in order to save time, Daxie always takes food from the boiling pots with branches and thin bamboos, freeing up time to deal with urgent matters. Over time, Daxu practiced the skill of making the sticks pick up food. The people under him saw him eating vegetables like this. They were not hot, and they didn’t make their hands greasy. They also followed suit and gradually formed chopsticks. The prototype.

Although the legend mainly uses some historical material to express the people's understanding, opinions and feelings about historical events, rather than strictly reproduce the historical events themselves. However, after listening to the initial process of using chopsticks in the water, it is believed that today's people believe that it is a real situation. It is more simple and authentic than the legend of Jiang Ziya and the chopsticks. It is also in line with the law of development.

To promote the birth of chopsticks, the most important opportunity should be cooked food. In ancient times, because there were no metal utensils, the animal bones were too short and extremely brittle, and the processing was not easy. So the ancestors picked the bamboo and branches to pick up the cooked food. In the wilderness environment, human beings live in dense forest grass caves. The most convenient material is trees and bamboo poles. For this reason, the small bamboo sticks through the guise of the ancestors grilled, eager to take the fishing when hot, stir the steamed glutinous rice, etc., the prototype of the chopsticks gradually appeared, this is the inevitable development of the human environment. From the current shape of chopsticks, it also has the characteristics of the original bamboo sticks, even after three years of development, its originality can not be changed.

Of course, any legend is always made by the choices, tailoring, fiction, exaggeration, rendering, and even fantasy art of the people of the past. The legend of Dagu Chuang Chopsticks is no exception. It is the process of gradually fumbling chopsticks for thousands of years. Concentrated on the typical character of Daxie. In fact, the birth of chopsticks should be the collective wisdom of the ancestors, not the credit of one person. However, chopsticks may have originated in the era of the Daxie. After hundreds of years or even years of exploration and popularization, the Shang Dynasty became tableware used together with the spoon.

Then, when did China emerge from eating vegetables and eating at the same time? This question has not yet found clear literature. It can only be found in the circumstantial evidence. It is necessary to have a lighter bowl for eating. The food utensils of the Shang and Zhou dynasties are relatively bulky, difficult to hold with one hand, and the other hand is used to hold the shackles. Even the smaller "beans" are mainly rich in meat, with a lid and a high foot that cannot be held in the hands. In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, there was a round bowl of the round bottom. Judging from the bowls and plates of the Western Han Dynasty tombs from Luoyang, Danyang, and Tunxi, many of them are glazed pottery, which is light in weight and bright in color. This kind of bowl can obviously be used together with chopsticks to eat and use, and then from the set of painted ear cups and bamboo rafts unearthed from the tombs of the early Western Han Dynasty in Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan, it is certain that the meal will be dominated by chopsticks.

Some folklorists have analyzed from the archaeological point of view, and the rituals of the ceremonies have rarely been found in the tombs of the late Warring States Period. Because the people of the pre-Qin Dynasty used their hands to grab the rice, they must wash their hands before the meal. With the evolution of the times, the ancestors understand that they can replace the hand-picked meal, and washing hands is no longer a necessary etiquette for eating, so the use of plaques is also reduced. The disappearance of the burial burial burial can also be circumstantial evidence that after the late Warring States Period or Qin Shihuang unified China, it has become the main tableware for Chinese cuisine and rice.

We then use the law of the development of things to infer that when people take the rice with their left hand and the leeks with their right hand, it is necessary to eat three meals a day. Does anyone feel that it is both troublesome and inconvenient to eat in this way? Rice, after the meal, the sticky hands are more to wash, will someone be bored, suddenly found that the viburnum not only has the function of amaranth but also has the function of the entrance of the rice? Anything can never be It is static, unchanging, and the ritual system will be broken by brave people. When people find the drawbacks of grabbing their hands and discover the advantages and versatility of cockroaches, they will reform the old rules of eating and drinking. This is an inevitable law of human progress.

From hand-picked rice to changing to leeks for dinner, you will encounter obstruction or even attack by the ceremonial conservatives: In addition, instead of pilling, there are habits, so the progress of this reform is very slow. It will not work overnight. However, the superiority and versatility of chopsticks are objective. When our ancestors gradually discovered that they could not only clip but also dial, pick, lick, lick, peel, poke, tear, etc., everyone was delighted to play the role of the unification of the world outside the Tao. With the development of history, cooking skills are constantly enriched. Because of the main role of chopsticks, salads, noodles, Shanxi fish, mutton, and apples are also suitable for chopsticks. It is arguably the earliest chopsticks revolution in Chinese food culture.

Chinese people use chopsticks to eat is a custom that has been handed down from ancient times. In ancient times, chopsticks were called "箸". In the traditional Chinese etiquette culture, the usage of the following chopsticks is quite taboo.

There are many etiquettes for chopsticks. Modern Chinese etiquette regulations are relatively simple: mainly:

1. The posture of holding the chopsticks should be standardized. The contact point of the middle finger is in the middle of the chopsticks. It is too high, too low, or the fingering method (such as the index finger points to the guest when holding vegetables) is not standardized.

2, do not wave chopsticks on the dishes.

3, do not puncture dishes with chopsticks.

5. Do not include chopsticks in your mouth.

6, don't let the soup drop.

7, do not use chopsticks to stir the vegetables.

8, do not use chopsticks as a toothpick.

9, do not use chopsticks to point to others.

10, when you need to use the spoon, you should first put the chopsticks down.

Traditional taboos using chopsticks:

1, avoid three long and two short, before the meal or during the meal, put the whole chopsticks on the table, like a coffin board, three long and two short, unlucky.

2, avoid the immortal pointing the way, take the chopsticks when the index finger sticks out, like blaming others. Not allowed.

3, bogey, keep the sound, put the chopsticks in the mouth, sound like a straw snail, it seems that there is no tutor, not allowed.

4, avoid hitting and knocking, use the chopsticks to beat the dishes during the meal, making a sound, like begging for food. Not allowed.

5, taboo to patrol the city, hand chopsticks, unscrupulously use chopsticks to patrol on the table in the table, this is the lack of pan-fighting performance, not allowed.

6, avoiding obscurity, referring to the use of chopsticks to turn the dishes, like tomb graves, not allowed.

7, avoid tears, beaded, when the dishes, the soup drops into other dishes or on the table, this is a serious rude. Not allowed.

8, avoid the upside down, use the chopsticks upside down, as if you are hungry, not allowed.

9 taboo sea god needle, when dining, use a chopstick to insert the dish in the dish, as in the public to extend the middle finger to the person, is considered to be a shame to the table diners, not allowed.

10, avoid public scent, put a pair of chopsticks vertically into a bowl of rice as if to the incense, it is disrespectful. Not allowed.

11, avoid crossing the cross, put the chopsticks on the table, which is equal to the fork on the dinner table, is the negation of the other people at the same table. It is also disrespectful to oneself, because, in ancient times, it was only when the lawsuit was drawn. Not allowed

12, avoid landing and stunned, lost the chopsticks on the ground, is also a serious rude performance, the ancients believe that chopsticks landing will alarm the ancestors. Not allowed.