中 For thousands of years we Chinese have always regarded chopsticks the simplest possible and the most efficient tool for transporting bite-sized morsels of food form. a bowl to the mouth. As early as in the Zhou Dynasty， chopsticks were used for picking up meat and vegetables， while hands were used for rice.// Chopsticks， which are roughly uniform. in size throughout China， can be made of a variety of materials， including bamboo， wood， lacquer， jade， ivory， plastic， aluminum， silver and gold. Special long bamboo chopsticks are generally used in the kitchen.// The way we Chinese handle our chopsticks is quite artistic and varied from person to person like one's signature. An average Chinese can very easily pick up a single tiny grain of rice， or a tiny piece of peas， or a slippery button mushroom or sea cucumber.// When using chopsticks， one should place both sticks between the thumb and forefinger. The point is to keep one stick still and move the other so as to make them work like pincers.