After 16 trips to China and 14 to Hong Kong, I had to master chopsticks to pick up things like pickled garlic with plastic square chopsticks. China restaurants have no utensils in 90% of where I ate, even in Beijing.

The biggest mistakes most "gweilos" make is squeezing the chopsticks way too hard and holding the chopsticks too far down near the point of picking up the food.

This causes the chopsticks to spread apart like an "X" and makes it impossible to pick up anything.

The key is to hold them nearly at the furthest end AWAY from the point of picking up the food and have minimal pressure.

Think more of how you use a tweezer and less like a pair of pliers.

Practice picking up small things like an olive or clove of garlic.

It will make it easy to pick up a lot of food and not drop everything.
[Reply]