Using chopsticks, you cannot squeeze using brute force or you will have a fish ball shooting away. You cannot go limp either or you will not be able to pick up anything. Learning how to use chopsticks probably take less than 5 minutes of listening and watching and maybe even hand holding but to become totally comfortable with chopsticks, you simply have to pay the due and fail enough times. You have to be committed to learn it even if you are doing it all wrong. You cannot try to understand it perfectly without actually playing and using it.
Some people use chopstick to pick up rice but you can see most Chinese use their chopstick to swoop rice directly from bowl to mouth. On really hard to pick up items, you can see that they cheat by using the chopstick to stab through the item.
There are lots of Chinese that are using chopstick on a regular basis. However, they will often hear their seniors telling them that they are not holding their chopsticks properly. What is meant by “proper” if they are already eating with it on a daily basis?
If you look into the construct of a chopstick, one end is almost square so that it won’t be slippery while the tip that you use to put food in the mouth is rounded and get rounded to avoid cutting your lips.
Most adults can easily break a pair of chopsticks easily if they want to. However, if they have to break a big bunch as a unit, it is near impossible.
Most won’t think of chopstick as a weapon but it is totally possible. Watch the following video.
Exercise
What else can you teach with chopsticks? Name at least 3 other use to illustrate things that we (as a martial artist) value.
What am I trying to say in this seemingly random blog?