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eda

Joined: 01 Apr 2005 Posts: 379 Location: Ankara/Turkey
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Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 11:46 am Post subject: Chinese Chopsticks |
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Hi..
As I know most of you guys are from there,I wanna learn something about chopsticks
I have little information about chopsticks so I wanna learn more about them.It's one of the great cultural values of China I think.
I am so curiess about that chopsticks and here are some of my questions about them
Do you always use them while eating?
Is it easy to learn how to utilize them when you came there as a foreigner?
I once heard that Chine people consider knife or forks as a kind of violence so they use chopstics that reflects gentleness...Is it true?
Thanks my dear friends  _________________ invasion is so succexy so succexy. |
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RedRose

Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 2735 Location: GuangZhou, China
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Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 6:58 pm Post subject: |
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I don't know chopstick's origin. but I know all almost Chinese people use it when we eat.
for a child, it's easy to learn how to use it. but for an adult who never used chopstick before, it's hard to use it I guess
Do you know why Chinese people play ping-pong so skillfully? according to some experts' explanation, it's because Chinese people always use chopstick in their entire life  |
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eda

Joined: 01 Apr 2005 Posts: 379 Location: Ankara/Turkey
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Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2006 5:43 am Post subject: |
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RedRose wrote: |
I don't know chopstick's origin. but I know all almost Chinese people use it when we eat.
for a child, it's easy to learn how to use it. but for an adult who never used chopstick before, it's hard to use it I guess
Do you know why Chinese people play ping-pong so skillfully? according to some experts' explanation, it's because Chinese people always use chopstick in their entire life  |
wow!I am good at playing ping-pong too!Can my ancestors be Chinese
It is not that impossible 'coz centuries and centuries ago Turks and Chinese were living and fighting against each other.
maybe........??  _________________ invasion is so succexy so succexy. |
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Bob S.

Joined: 29 Apr 2004 Posts: 1767 Location: So. Cal
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Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2006 1:53 pm Post subject: Re: Chinese Chopsticks |
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eda wrote: |
As I know most of you guys are from there,I wanna learn something about chopsticks ...
Is it easy to learn how to utilize them when you came there as a foreigner? |
Like you, I grew up in a culture where chopsticks were not common. I learned how to use them in college when a friend took me to a Chinese restaurant and instructed me in how to use them.
The good news is, as a late learner you can learn proper form. (The dirty little secret is that many people who grow up with them learn bad habits as little children and keep their bad form when they grow up.)
The bad news is, your hand muscles are not attuned to their use, so when learning how to use chopsticks you will get bad muscle cramps in your hand the first few times you try. Don't let this stop you. As your muscles become familiar with this new type of work, they ache less and less.
If you have a Chinese or Japanese restauant nearby, you can probably get one of the staff to show you how to use chopsticks. Practice with a meal there. Go slow. When first learning how, it is easy to make a mistake and flip food across the table. Get some takeout (er, take-away if you use British English) and practice at home.
With time you will become a pro! You will be able to pick up a single grain of rice, even pick up a single slippery ice cube.
Good luck, and see here for more:
 _________________ "It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper |
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RedRose

Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 2735 Location: GuangZhou, China
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Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2006 5:27 pm Post subject: |
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Haha! I know that it's hard for a foreigner to learn how to use chopstick, but I had never known that it's soooo hard until I read Bob's msg!!
and this flash about chopstick is so interesting!  |
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eda

Joined: 01 Apr 2005 Posts: 379 Location: Ankara/Turkey
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Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 12:12 am Post subject: |
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I will take two sticks and try to handle it as it showed in flash. If I might learn how to use them properly,I will immediatly go to a Chinese Restraunt  _________________ invasion is so succexy so succexy. |
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Bob S.

Joined: 29 Apr 2004 Posts: 1767 Location: So. Cal
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Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 10:17 pm Post subject: |
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RedRose wrote: |
and this flash about chopstick is so interesting!  |
If you click on the picture, it opens a page telling about Japanese chopstick table manners.
Japan got chopsticks from China originally. Are there differences in polite table manners? By culture differences, is something considered rude in one country but okay in another? |
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RedRose

Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 2735 Location: GuangZhou, China
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Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2006 6:40 am Post subject: |
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Bob S. wrote: |
RedRose wrote: |
and this flash about chopstick is so interesting!  |
If you click on the picture, it opens a page telling about Japanese chopstick table manners.
Japan got chopsticks from China originally. Are there differences in polite table manners? By culture differences, is something considered rude in one country but okay in another? |
OMG!! so many manners of using chopstick in Japan!! I am glad that I am not a Japanese! |
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advoca
Joined: 09 Oct 2003 Posts: 422 Location: Beijing
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Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 1:27 am Post subject: |
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But, RedRose-- the web page says:
Some of the most important chopstick rules (in Japan) are:
� Hold your chopsticks towards their end, and not in the middle or the front third.
� When you are not using your chopsticks and when you are finished eating, lay them down in front of you with the tip to left.
� Do not stick chopsticks into your food, especially not into rice. Only at funerals are chopsticks stuck into the rice that is put onto the altar.
� Do not pass food with your chopsticks directly to somebody else's chopsticks. Only at funerals are the bones of the cremated body given in that way from person to person.
� Do not spear food with your chopsticks.
� Do not point with your chopsticks to something or somebody.
� Do not move your chopsticks around in the air too much, nor play with them.
� Do not move around plates or bowls with chopsticks.
� To separate a piece of food into two pieces, exert controlled pressure on the chopsticks while moving them apart from each other. This needs much exercise.
� If you have already used your chopsticks, use the opposite end of your chopsticks in order to move food from a shared plate to your own plate.
But surely these rules apply in China too? The only one I have not heard of the is the last one, namely, If you have already used your chopsticks, use the opposite end of your chopsticks in order to move food from a shared plate to your own plate. |
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RedRose

Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 2735 Location: GuangZhou, China
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Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 1:50 am Post subject: |
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advoca wrote: |
But surely these rules apply in China too? The only one I have not heard of the is the last one, namely, If you have already used your chopsticks, use the opposite end of your chopsticks in order to move food from a shared plate to your own plate. |
some of them apply in China, such as:(1) � Do not point with your chopsticks to something or somebody. (2). � Do not move your chopsticks around in the air too much, nor play with them., (3).To separate a piece of food into two pieces, exert controlled pressure on the chopsticks while moving them apart from each other. This needs much exercise. .(4) Do not pass food with your chopsticks directly to somebody else's chopsticks. Only at funerals are the bones of the cremated body given in that way from person to person.
however, the rest don't apply in China. |
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aj
Joined: 11 Jan 2006 Posts: 12
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Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 2:51 am Post subject: |
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some interesting info: i've been told that chopsticks that have a pointed end are of japanese origin and the round blunt ends-chinese. velly interesting dees chopsticks |
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