Icy Flame

Chopsticks are the main table utensils in China. Chinese children start with a spoon but will adapt to chopsticks as early as when they turn one. As a gift, chopsticks symbolize straightforwardness because of their shape. Chinese chopsticks don't have pointed tips, unlike the Japanese style that is refined to pick out the bones of their main diet, fish. Most Chinese chopsticks are made of bamboo, though today, you see more and more wooden and plastic ones.
Foreigners are not expected to use chopsticks proficiently, but if they do, they will give a mighty impression. Therefore, before you go to China, go to a local Chinese restaurant, if not to find authentic Chinese food, at least you can practice using chopsticks. Its all right if, in your first meal in China, you can't use chopsticks. If you still can't handle the two sticks to pick up a big shrimp in your tenth meal, you show your incompetence in learning and the willingness to learn.