chinese are famous for their cuisine. chinese are the ultimate gourmet. especially in south china, they would say they'd eat everything that has four legs besides the dinner table, everything that has two wings besides a plane. many of the dishes served in china may really surprise newcomers. and many of these dishes are so called medicinal dishes believed to have extraordinary nutritional value, including shark fin, swallow nest.
snake soup is among the most treasured soups in china. then there are also snake gall and blood mixed in liquor which supposedly will brighten your eyes. some "westernized" chinese would suggest that if adam and eve had been chinese we humans would still be in the garden of eden as they would have eaten the snake.
chopsticks are the main table utensils in china. chinese children starts with a spoon but will adapt to chopsticks as early as when he just turns one. as a gift chopsticks symbolize straightforwardness, because of its shape. chinese chopsticks don't have pointed tip, unlike the japanese style that is refined to pick out the bones for their main diet, fish. chinese chopsticks are mostly of bamboo, but today there are more and more wooden ones 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 the local chinese restaurant, if not to find authentic chinese food, at least you can practice the use of chopsticks. if in your first meal in china you don't have to use chopsticks, then 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.
