Chopsticks(筷子)come in many different shapes and styles, and have been around since 1200 B.C.E. The utensils(器具)earned their place at the Chinese dinner table around 400 B.C.E. More than 20 percent of the world’s population relies on chopsticks for eating. China alone uses 45 billion disposable(一次性的)pairs per year. 【小题1】

China was the first to experiment with chopsticks nearly 3000 years ago. 【小题2】 The Chinese used them for cooking since they could dip them into boiling pots of water. Then China’s population boomed. Cooks were forced to conserve resources, which meant chopping foods into tiny bites that used less fuel to cook. Bite sized foods, paired with Chinese philosopher and vegetarian Confucius’ anti-knife beliefs, set up the utensils for widespread adoption beyond China.

【小题3】 Chinese chopsticks, for instance, are long and thick “to facilitate dining around the table,” Ruixi Hu, founder of Lost Plate Food Tours, says. Hu grew up in Chengdu, China, where she first used chopsticks at age 2. She now goes on food tours throughout Asia and she’s found many chopstick varieties.

In Japan, where bamboo chopsticks were adopted in 500 C.E., chopsticks have evolved over time. They’re now particularly fine-tuned for one of Japan’s main foods: fish. “Japanese chopsticks are short and sharp, mainly because the Japanese are good at eating fish, and it is easy to remove fish bones with sharp chopsticks,” Hu says. 【小题4】 That’s why their chopsticks don’t need to be as long.

Head over to South Korea where chopsticks look a bit different. 【小题5】 That’s because South Koreans love barbecue. The metal chopsticks won’t burn when diners are barbecuing their meat.