Different from western countries, where people use forks and knife to have meals, Chinese people normally use chopsticks to do that. If you are planning to taste authentic Chinese food during your travel in China, how to use chopsticks is the first thing you should learn before your tour starts. Actually, chopsticks are also usual table wares in Japan and Korea. The following picture shows how to hold chopsticks, you can have a try!

Hold the chopsticks with right hand, thumb and forefinger at the top and three other ones naturally bend to ensure the chopsticks won't slide off your hand.
Chopsticks Manners The following are impolite manners when dining with chopsticks:
Point at others with chopsticks when talking at table.
Suck one side of the chopsticks noisily.
Knock at dishes or bowls with chopsticks.
Pick up the food in the dishes with drops of soup or slices of vegetables falling on the table or on the other dishes.
Poke the chopsticks into the dishes, the same as pointing at others with middle finger in western countries.
Poke the chopsticks upright into the rice.
Cross one chopstick with another one on the table.
Rice and wheaten food are two major staple food in Chinese daily life. People in south China prefer rice while those in north China prefer wheaten food. Take noodles as an example, the flavor and cooking method vary with different places in China: chopped noodles in Shaanxi province; hand-pulled noodles in Gansu province; rice noodles in Guilin city; also oil-poured noodles, sourced noodles and so on. Besides traditional Chinese food, western snack are also quite popular with the young in China, like KFC, McDonald's and Dicos. Even you don't like Chinese food very much, you can still easily find western restaurant in the center of urban area.


|