Silver chopsticks and Golden spoons

Maybe I don't remember this story correctly, or maybe this is just fairy tale that a parent told their child. I don't know for sure. I just know, this is how my dad told me the story.

You may remember from a previous post that I wrote about the fact that two of my dad's elder siblings were raised by other families. My dad's 2nd older sister, as I mentioned was raised by a family that did not have any children of their own, supposedly close friends of my grandparents.

As a gift to my grandparents, and as thanks for allowing them to raise a child of their own, these friends gave my grandparents two sets of silver chopsticks and a set of golden spoons. My grandparents in turn told their friends to make sure their daughter knew that if anyone were to show up with these silver chopsticks and golden spoons, she was to know that these were her real family.

It's an interesting story, and I have the silver chopsticks and the golden spoons in my possession, gifts from my own father. I have no names, no ability to read Chinese, and hence no way to trace this story for truth or reality.

In case you don't know the significance of silver chopsticks, at one time, only the Emperor of China and high ranking officials were allowed to use silver chopsticks. They used them because there was a belief that if anyone tried to poison them in their daily meals, the arsenic would tarnish the silver of the chopsticks and alert them to the poisoning attempt.

Because of this history of silver chopsticks, it is considered a great honor when someone gives you a gift of silver chopsticks.