I'm Conor's workmate

I work at Renlai Magazine

I am in charge of advertising and events

I'm from Guangzhou

I met my husband and we got married then I came here to Taiwan

Now, I'm 5 months pregnant

It's already started to kick in my belly

Today, Conor asked me

about the social meaning behind the way people hold their chopsticks

and significance of holding them higher or lower in the hand

I don't hold chopsticks in the standard way

I hold them like this

My mother told me that if you hold them close to the bottom

You'd marry close to home

Holding closer to the top means you'll marry further afield

Maybe because I held them close to the top so I married far from home

Unless your parents are very traditional

It's also how you put your chopsticks down

My mother for example

thinks you should put your chopsticks with the end facing in, not out

But my husband's family is the opposite

I think everyone's habits are different

My mum doesn't like the ends to face out because this end is dirty

So if you put them like this it's easy to stain your clothes

So she doesn't allow it

but some people think that given you put them in your mouth

So putting them down that way isn't ok either

It's up to the individual

I think chopsticks are just a tool for putting things in our mouths

So as long as you're not using your hands

So I think anything's fine

if I can pick things up and not drop them

Wow! You can use chopsticks!

Wow!

Hello, I'm Ying-shan

I'm from Taipei

When I was younger my parents tried to teach me how to hold chopsticks correctly

but I could never get it right

I think holding them closer or further from the bottom has to do with leverage

The further from the bottom the easier it is to pick things up

If you're too close it's not as easy to pick things up

I don't think it's easy to use chopsticks well

From looking at how someone holds their chopsticks

You can understand how someone approaches things in general

People who hold them in a very standard way

they tend to be more orderly in other things

The easiest way to judge is

if the top of your chopsticks cross then it's not correct

If the chopsticks are parallel

and you use these two fingers for support

then it's correct

My chopsticks cross

So I use them incorrectly

I don't think it's really important in life

It's just a tool for eating

As long as you can pick things up it's ok

You don't have to hold them in any particular way

I wouldn't judge people by it

I'm already used to the way I hold them

It's what feels natural to me

I don't think I need to change to accomodate other people

Older people care about it more

They'll think of it as a sign you've been brought up well

I'm Jiahe, from Taiwan

I'm an editor at Renlai Magazine

This is how I hold my chopsticks

My own feelings about it are...

Like for example,

If I see someone holding their chopsticks close to the bottom

holding them close to the ends

I'll think it's a little weird

One reason I'll think it's weird is because

You need to use chopsticks to eat Chinese dishes

And people all eat from the same dishes

the dishes are often oily and have sauce

Your hand will be really close to the food holding it like that

For me,

it looks like they're about to touch the dish itself

So it will make me a little uncomfortable

The most common examples I see

are just people who don't hold their chopsticks properly

so at the table...

not every time, of course

but they'll mention it

The person who is criticized will just laugh

and admit it

the most common explanation is that they weren't corrected by their parents

I have some friends who even...

I've seen a situation in which

the person who holds their chopsticks in a strange way

is proud of the way he holds them

and if you ask

he'll explain how he picks things up with them

And he'll think he's talented because he can do it but others can't

But I do think

that holding your chopsticks high up looks very elegant

a little more refined

Although I can't put my finger on why exactly that is

I normally use plain chopsticks

made of wood or porcelain

I don't really like the novelty ones

Because I think chopsticks are quite symbolic

They have symbolic significance for China

It's not that I think that using novelty chopsticks is profane

I just think that using normal chopsticks is better

I'm more used to using wooden chopsticks

Iron chopsticks are slippy

Which makes it harder for those who don't hold them correctly in the first place

Because the surface is slippy

I like wooden chopsticks

I really dislike round chopsticks

especially rounded metallic ones

I think they are hard to grip

I like square chopsticks

with corners and faces

It makes it easier to pick things up