Although our chopsticks may have some resemblance to magic wands, the purpose they fulfil is a much more prosaic one, and, at the same time, a much more useful one. They are the auxiliaries which help us to convey to our mouths the food which we need for our bodies, the coal required by the human machine. It is generally thought in Europe that we use two chopsticks—one in each hand—for taking up the morsels of food, and for conveying these to our mouths. That is a mistake: our knife and fork exercise is much less complicated. The chopsticks are held in the right hand. Maintained by the thumb and the ring-finger, they are worked by the index and the middle finger. One remains motionless, the other manoeuvres and catches up the fragments of meat, and even the smallest particles of rice. When rice is eaten, the bowl containing it is brought very close to the mouth. The chopsticks work with feverish activity, for rice is our daily bread, and we can admit of no slip between the cup that contains it and our lips. It may be thought that the use of the chopsticks demands very great skill, but that is only the prejudice of those accustomed to the use of the fork. A child can learn how to use the chopsticks as easily as the utensils in use in Europe. It may be mentioned that we also make use of forks for roast meats, and of spoons for taking up liquids. The Book of Rites, which deals with all the acts of life, mentions that chopsticks are to be used for all purposes except for drinking soup. The use of the spoon was thus consecrated many centuries ago. The chopsticks are not plain, shapeless pieces of wood. They are made of bamboo, or of more precious woods, and also of ivory and silver. The top part, which is from eight to ten inches long, by from four to six broad, is square, the remaining part being round. On one of the sides of the square top part, poems and pictures are engraved. Under the reign of the Han family, the Emperor was dining one day at a political banquet with his ministers, when one of them—Tcheng-Liang by name—rose to his feet and said: “Your majesty’s cause is lost. I have just consulted my chopsticks.” And as it turned out, the Emperor’s plan of conquest failed. Even to-day the cleverness of this statesman, who knew how to disguise his own opinion in the form of a revelation by his chopsticks, and to pass off his own advice as the result of a Divine inspiration, is much admired.

Some centuries later, the famous dictator, Tchao-Tsao, was dining with a rival of his, who tried to hide his ambition under the most modest appearance. Tchao-Tsao was anxious to publicly expose the designs of his rival, whom he had seen through, and began to talk of the bravest men of the day. Each mentioned certain names, and finally Tchao-Tsao said, “We two alone are really courageous men.” Hearing himself thus directly named, Liou-Pei, as the rival was called, dropped his chopsticks just as a clap of thunder was heard rolling through the sky. He tried to hide his emotion, and said, “Ah! how great is the power of heaven, I really was frightened.” But he was unable to divert the suspicion to which his terror had given rise.

Under the reign of the Thangs, Kai-Yang presented a pair of gold chopsticks to his Minister of State, Soung-King, saying that he made him this present, not on account of the intrinsic value of the gold, but because the chopsticks were symbolical by their shape of the straightforwardness of his character.

It is recorded of a gourmet, named Ho-Tseng, who used to spend a large sum of money on his food, without ever being able to satisfy his tastes, that he fed like a prince, and though he spent upwards of a thousand crowns on his table, did not consider a single dish worthy of his chopsticks.

The number of historical anecdotes told about chopsticks is far too large to be given here. Let me, however, quote one of these anecdotes;

Let me conclude with four lines of poetry about the chopsticks, which were written by one of our philosophers: