Hello, I'm Yingying
I'm Conor's workmate
I work at Renlai Magazine
I am in charge of advertising and events
I'm from Guangzhou
I met my husband and we got married then I came here to Taiwan
Now, I'm 5 months pregnant
It's already started to kick in my belly
Today, Conor asked me
about the social meaning behind the way people hold their chopsticks
and significance of holding them higher or lower in the hand
I don't hold chopsticks in the standard way
I hold them like this
My mother told me that if you hold them close to the bottom
You'd marry close to home
Holding closer to the top means you'll marry further afield
Maybe because I held them close to the top so I married far from home
Unless your parents are very traditional
It's also how you put your chopsticks down
My mother for example
thinks you should put your chopsticks with the end facing in, not out
But my husband's family is the opposite
I think everyone's habits are different
My mum doesn't like the ends to face out because this end is dirty
So if you put them like this it's easy to stain your clothes
So she doesn't allow it
but some people think that given you put them in your mouth
So putting them down that way isn't ok either
It's up to the individual
I think chopsticks are just a tool for putting things in our mouths
So as long as you're not using your hands
So I think anything's fine
if I can pick things up and not drop them
Wow! You can use chopsticks!
Wow!
Hello, I'm Ying-shan
I'm from Taipei
When I was younger my parents tried to teach me how to hold chopsticks correctly
but I could never get it right
I think holding them closer or further from the bottom has to do with leverage
The further from the bottom the easier it is to pick things up
If you're too close it's not as easy to pick things up
I don't think it's easy to use chopsticks well
From looking at how someone holds their chopsticks
You can understand how someone approaches things in general
People who hold them in a very standard way
they tend to be more orderly in other things
The easiest way to judge is
if the top of your chopsticks cross then it's not correct
If the chopsticks are parallel
and you use these two fingers for support
then it's correct
My chopsticks cross
So I use them incorrectly
I don't think it's really important in life
It's just a tool for eating
As long as you can pick things up it's ok
You don't have to hold them in any particular way
I wouldn't judge people by it
I'm already used to the way I hold them
It's what feels natural to me
I don't think I need to change to accomodate other people
Older people care about it more
They'll think of it as a sign you've been brought up well
I'm Jiahe, from Taiwan
I'm an editor at Renlai Magazine
This is how I hold my chopsticks
My own feelings about it are...
Like for example,
If I see someone holding their chopsticks close to the bottom
holding them close to the ends
I'll think it's a little weird
One reason I'll think it's weird is because
You need to use chopsticks to eat Chinese dishes
And people all eat from the same dishes
the dishes are often oily and have sauce
Your hand will be really close to the food holding it like that
For me,
it looks like they're about to touch the dish itself
So it will make me a little uncomfortable
The most common examples I see
are just people who don't hold their chopsticks properly
so at the table...
not every time, of course
but they'll mention it
The person who is criticized will just laugh
and admit it
the most common explanation is that they weren't corrected by their parents
I have some friends who even...
I've seen a situation in which
the person who holds their chopsticks in a strange way
is proud of the way he holds them
and if you ask
he'll explain how he picks things up with them
And he'll think he's talented because he can do it but others can't
But I do think
that holding your chopsticks high up looks very elegant
a little more refined
Although I can't put my finger on why exactly that is
I normally use plain chopsticks
made of wood or porcelain
I don't really like the novelty ones
Because I think chopsticks are quite symbolic
They have symbolic significance for China
It's not that I think that using novelty chopsticks is profane
I just think that using normal chopsticks is better
I'm more used to using wooden chopsticks
Iron chopsticks are slippy
Which makes it harder for those who don't hold them correctly in the first place
Because the surface is slippy
I like wooden chopsticks
I really dislike round chopsticks
especially rounded metallic ones
I think they are hard to grip
I like square chopsticks
with corners and faces
It makes it easier to pick things up