Abstract: In March 2020, Zhejiang Minsheng Radio advocated a civilized and healthy dining practice - “using the serving chopsticks and spoons at home” - in an interview, to which the author was invited to preside. As a matter of fact, Hangzhou has a long history of supplying two pairs of chopsticks at each seat, anecdotes of which have never been scarce in the past century. The article first presents the historical process of the practice of additional serving chopsticks and spoons as an alternative to the traditional way of “using one pair of chopsticks throughout the meal” before arguing that popularizing the practice of using two pairs of chopsticks for family meals is significant.

Key words: double-pair chopsticks system, serving chopsticks, serving spoon, family meal