Evaluate the impact of superstitions on the development of chopsticks in China BY MAYA HU, YEAR 10, 2021 As the most common utensils on the Chinese dinner table, Chinese chopsticks have developed over thousands of years to its form in the present day. During this long period of development, superstitions had a large impact in shaping the current chopsticks, including its shape, length, and various practices and traditions related to it. However, towards the future, the focus on resolving environmental concerns will largely impact the development of chopsticks rather than superstitions. The influence of these two factors, together with the complication of the Chinese civilisation and the knowledge of collective learning, chopsticks have evolved to its current form with more forms to come.
shape of chopsticks to be blunt, rather than having sharp ends like those in other Asian cultures.3 Additionally, out of the two ends of each chopstick, one is circular, and one is rectangular. This symbolises the Ancient Chinese’s belief that “the sky is circular, and the ground is rectangular”.4 Traditional and authentic Chinese chopsticks are strictly 7.6 inches long, symbolising the seven emotions and six senses that humans are believed to have.5 These numerous links of chopsticks’ characteristics to superstitions demonstrate the large impact superstitions had on the development of chopsticks in the early periods. The long-lasting impact of superstitions on the development of chopsticks was made possible by the powerful idea of collective learning, where ideas and practices of Chinese people in relation to the usage of chopsticks were passed down through generations by a variety form of texts.
Shortly after the invention of chopsticks, superstitions had a clear and major impact on the development of chopsticks in Ancient China. The spreading of the usage of chopsticks across Ancient China was a key stage of chopsticks’ development. When chopsticks were first created, most Chinese people only used it for cooking and reaching into pots of hot oil and water.1 On the dinner table, sharp utensils such as forks and knives were used. The gradual but significant shift from cooking to eating with chopsticks occurred with the courtesy of Confucius, an influential politician and philosopher in Ancient China. According to Stephanie Butler from History.com, Confucius believed that “sharp utensils at the dinner table would remind eaters of the slaughterhouse”, and that “knives’ sharp points evoked violence and warfare”. Due to his popularity and the people’s desire for peace, this idea of Confucius spread across Ancient China, and eventually everyone started to use chopsticks instead of forks and knives at the dinner table.2 These are clear evidence that superstitions affected the development of chopsticks as it influenced Confucius, later all Chinese people to change their usage of chopsticks, marking the significant development stage of chopsticks in the ancient times, which continues into modern day. Furthermore, the shape and length of traditional Chinese chopsticks was determined by superstitions as well. Confucius’ idea also influenced the
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As the Chinese civilisation continued to develop and become more complex, so did the names and rules behind the usage of chopsticks. The change in name for chopsticks throughout history was another important aspect of the development of chopsticks, and once again cultural superstitions largely impacted this.6 According to extracts from The Book of Rites, in the Ming dynasty the name “kuai-zi (快字)” for chopsticks was formed, literally meaning “fast”. This version of the name was developed because the previous version of zhu (箸) is “a homophone to stay and decay, seen as a bad connotation (to) the fisherman of the central-Chinese region”.7 This shows that superstitions impacted the way people named chopsticks, in doing so hoping that it would “bring good fortune”8. The changing of names purely because of superstitions beliefs highlights the high importance they have in the Chinese civilisation, and in the development of chopsticks. The change in name of chopsticks reflects the complication of the Chinese civilisation throughout its thousands of years of history. In addition, superstitions have since the ancient times, leading into today, influenced the way Chinese people use chopsticks, which is another aspect of the development of chopsticks. There are many taboos related to using chopsticks, and these are largely linked to superstitions.
Pymble Ladies’ College
