Chopsticks

Chopsticks, a pair of small tapered sticks, are the traditional eating utensils of China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam (the four "Chopstick countries"). Chopsticks are commonly made of wood, bamboo, metal, bone, ivory, and in modern times, plastic as well.

Names

"Chopstick" is the pidgin-English and English name for the tools. "Chop" is pidgin-English for "quick", the Mandarin word for chopsticks being kuàizi (筷子) or kuài'er (筷兒), meaning "the bamboo-objects for eating quickly". However, originally in Classical Chinese and some older literature, they are zhù (箸), possibly just a phonetic character that merely indicates that the object is made of bamboo.

The Chinese usage 'zhù' spread to Japan and is pronounced hashi. In Korea, neither of the Chinese words are used now at all, but jeotgarak (젓가락) is used instead.

Usage

Held between the thumb and fingers of the right hand, they are used as tongs to take up portions of the food, which is brought to table cut up into small and convenient pieces, or as means for sweeping the rice and small particles of food into the mouth from the bowl. Many rules of etiquette govern the proper conduct of the chopsticks.

Chopsticks are traditionally held in the right hand only, even by the left-handed. (In East Asia, as in Muslim nations, the left hand is used in the toilet, the right hand used for eating.) In modern times, biases against left-handed eating are becoming less severe, and so chopsticks might be held with either hand.

Chopsticks are simple in design - merely two thin rods (top and bottom area smaller than one square centimeter, length varies), each with one end slightly smaller than the other. The smaller, round ends come in contact with the food. In practice, their use is an acquired skill that can take some mastery. In addition, East Asian food, which is usually made into small pieces more suitable for clawing than cutting or scraping, is generally geared to be eaten with chopsticks. For example, rice in East Asia is often prepared to be sticky, while rice prepared using Western methods tend to be "fluffy", and is particularly difficult to eat with chopsticks.

Types
There are three main styles of chopsticks:

Chinese: long, wooden sticks that taper to a rounded end.
Japanese: short, wooden sticks that taper to a pointed end
Korean: short, metal sticks that taper to a blunted end

How to use
Put one chopstick between the palm and the base of the thumb,
Use the ring finger (the third finger) to support the lower part of the stick.
With the thumb, squeeze the stick down while the ring finger pushes it up. The stick should be stationary and very stable.
Use the tips of the thumb, the index and middle finger to hold the other stick like an ink pen.
Make sure the tips of the two sticks line up.
Pivot the upper stick up and down towards the stationary lower stick.
With enough practice, the two sticks function like a pair of pincers.
For easier handling in the beginning, hold the sticks at the midpoint as a child would do. With proficiency, hold the sticks at the upper ends for a farther reach and a more mature look.

General etiquette
The chopsticks should not touch the mouth. It is also poor table manners to suck on the tip of the chopsticks.
If there are serving spoons or public chopsticks on the table, use those to get the food to your own plate/bowl before switching to your own set.
After you have picked up an item, it is yours. You should not put it back in the dish. (So set your aim before raising your chopsticks.)
It may be a polite gesture to pick up the best piece of food and send it to your guests' bowl. (Use caution in this practice; many people observe some kind of special diet and picking food for your guests may not be appropriate to each person's tastes. Furthermore, it may be best, due to hygienic concern, to use the serving utensil instead of your own chopsticks if you perform this gesture. If chopsticks are used, invert them and use the other ends to pick up the food.)
Never rest chopsticks by sticking them point-first into a bowl of rice. This is reminiscent of ancestral offerings and can be seen as disrespectful.

Chinese etiquette
Dishes are usually prepared in such a way that each piece is bite-sized so if the item is too small or too big to be picked up by the chopsticks, then it is not designed to be eaten with the chopsticks.
The rice bowl is raised to the mouth and the rice is shoveled into the mouth using the chopsticks. If rice is served on a plate, as is more common in the West, you should eat it with a fork or spoon. It is quite tedious to try to pick up the rice, grain by grain.
Chinese traditionally eat rice from a bowl.

History
Chopsticks were developed about 3000 to 5000 years ago in China (the exact date is unknown).