The differences between the chopsticks used in China, Japan and Korea

A lot of people in East Asian use chopsticks as their tableware, for example, China, Japan and Korea. But if you look at these chopsticks carefully, you will find some differences between them.

Firstly, the material is different. Chopsticks from China or Japan are made of wood or willow whereas those in Korea are made of metal. The reason is the Koreans like to eat barbeque, if they use a wood pair, it would be burnt in the broiling grill. But metal chopsticks are a bit heavy, so Chinese and Japanese prefer the wood ones. On the other hand, many Japanese chopsticks are made of willow as Japanese think willow can exorcise evil spirits.

What’s more, the tips of the chopsticks are also distinct. The tips of Chinese chopsticks are flat while those of Japanese chopsticks are sharp. Japanese like to eat raw meat, especially sashimi which is so smooth that it is quite hard to pick up with chopsticks. So their chopsticks’ tips are sharp to stab the raw meat, like a harpoon. In contrast, Chinese seldom eat raw meat, so the tips are flat. There is a rule in China: if you cannot pick up food with chopsticks, you can even throw it away but never stab it. Because stabbed food are for the dead.

A further difference between the three is the length. Chopsticks in China and Korea are longer than those used in Japan. China and Korea continue the theories of Confucius that they regard unity as a virtue. So it is so common to see a Chinese family eat together and pick up food from the same plate. A long pair of chopsticks make it easily to pick up food that is on the other side of table and you can also pick up food for others to show your polite. On the contrary, Japanese always eat separately. Everyone has his own portion of food so there is no need to use a long pair of chopsticks.