China said Wednesday it will slap a tax on chopsticks and raise them on goods ranging from yachts to gasoline and car engines in a bid to save trees, protect the environment and conserve energy.

The changes, which take effect on April 1, are the biggest adjustments to consumption taxes here in 12 years.

A 5 percent consumption tax on both disposable wooden chopsticks and wooden floor panels will help curb the plundering of timber resources, the Ministry of Finance said.

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/060322/060322_chopsticks_hmed_5a.hmedium.jpg

China makes about 15 billion pairs of throwaway chopsticks a year, consuming some 71 million cubic feet of wood, the ministry said.

Bigger car engine, higher tax
Among the most significant changes will be adjustments to car taxes, with levies poised to rise as high as 20 percent for highly polluting vehicles with larger engines.

Charges will be cut or remain unchanged for cars with smaller engines, while taxes on less polluting motorcycles will be reduced to encourage their use, the ministry said.

Hybrid cars and other environmentally friendly vehicles will enjoy a discount, it said, without giving specific details.

China will also broaden the scope of oil products subject to consumption taxes to include fuel oil, jet fuel and naphtha and lubricants, as the government leans more on pricing mechanisms to curb the country’s rampant use of energy.

Definition of luxury changes
Adjustments were also made to level new consumption taxes on golf balls and equipment, yachts and luxury watches and to scrap charges on skincare and shampoo products, once seen as the privilege of the wealthy, but which have become commonplace as incomes have risen.

The adjustments are in keeping with the spirit of the ruling Communist Party’s 2006-2010 plan, which aims to move the nation to a more sustainable growth model with less environmental degradation and greater social equity.

The changes are aimed at “promoting environmental protection and economizing on resources while better guiding the production and consumption of certain products,” the ministry said.

or they could just use reuseable metal chopsticks.

bamboo chopsticks are better anyhow.

If China wants to conserve the environment, they should start punishing factories that pollute drinking water.

or they could just use reuseable metal chopsticks.

Or ignore pointless heritage and go with common sense..... FORK.. SPOON... METAL... OR PLASTIC...

china cares about the environment?

Yeah, tell those fucking heathens to use silverware.

yeah - plastic forks and spoons are way better for the environment... :rolleyes:

yeah, chopping down acres of trees and using the land to grow corn, harvest it, refine the oil, and mix it with chemicals to create pseudoplastics in multiple energy-consuming production steps is far better than chopping down trees and running them through a machine to cut them into chopsticks, then planting new trees...

riight. God went to all the trouble of making it, may as well use it as one big garbage bin, eh?

Or ignore pointless heritage and go with common sense..... FORK.. SPOON... METAL... OR PLASTIC...

for eating at a chinese dinner, chopsticks > fork.

dishes are all laid out in the middle, and everyone reaches towards the middle to grab foods. that's why chinese style chopsticks are very long.

chinese have historically used spoons. we have soup spoons.

for eating at a chinese dinner, chopsticks > fork.

dishes are all laid out in the middle, and everyone reaches towards the middle to grab foods. that's why chinese style chopsticks are very long.

chinese have historically used spoons. we have soup spoons.

can't you do the samething with a fork? I mean just make the handle slighly longer?

not saying that at all

but the present heaven and earth will be destroyed and recreated

one of my favorite passages: Isaiah 65

For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth;
And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create;
For behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing,
And her people a joy.
I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
And joy in My people;
The voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her,
Nor the voice of crying.
“ No more shall an infant from there live but a few days,
Nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days;
For the child shall die one hundred years old,
But the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed.
They shall build houses and inhabit them;
They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
They shall not build and another inhabit;
They shall not plant and another eat;
For as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people,
And My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
They shall not labor in vain,
Nor bring forth children for trouble;
For they shall be the descendants of the blessed of the LORD,
And their offspring with them.
“ It shall come to pass
That before they call, I will answer;
And while they are still speaking, I will hear.
The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
The lion shall eat straw like the ox,
And dust shall be the serpent’s food.
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,”
Says the LORD.

amen

dawww...crap here we go again.

And thou saweth a long post in italics, leading one to believeth that YZF has cometh to bring Christian bullshit to thy thread about chopsticks.

The Book of Breeze 1:53

Chinese soup spoons > European ones.

Gathers way more gunk.

No sissy sipping.

can't you do the samething with a fork? I mean just make the handle slighly longer?

fork isn't nearly as versatile as a pair of chopsticks.

it would also look and feel pretty ridiculous. imagine everyone sitting around spearing shit in the middle of the table.

Reusable chopsticks?
Everyone reaching for shit in the middle of the table is pretty retarded in itself, I don't see how using a fork to do so would make it any more stupid.

cutting and stabbing food at the table is a bit barbaric.

Gooney goo goo

Reusable chopsticks?
Everyone reaching for shit in the middle of the table is pretty retarded in itself, I don't see how using a fork to do so would make it any more stupid.

there are already reusable chopsticks. Wooden disposable chopsticks are analogous to plastic cutlery in the West.

Chinese soup spoons > European ones.

Gathers way more gunk.

No sissy sipping.

+ 1

fork isn't nearly as versatile as a pair of chopsticks.

care to explain? I bet I can get more rice using a fork rather than using chopsticks

Reusable chopsticks?
Everyone reaching for shit in the middle of the table is pretty retarded in itself, I don't see how using a fork to do so would make it any more stupid.

disregarding sanitation, the same thing can be said about using ones bare in sharing food (i.e. nacho's, buffalo wings, etc.)

meh who cares... we'll be dead when the earth runs out of natural resources anyways.

LOL chopsticks are better than forks? The damn Chinese just need to admit their invention blows compared to the fork.

actually chopsticks have been in use in Asia for 5,000 years.

As recently as 1200AD Europeans were still living in houses made of livestock dung and eating everything with their hands.

care to explain? I bet I can get more rice using a fork rather than using chopsticks

Asian rice is pretty different then american rice. There rice is sticky and clumps together so you can actually eat it with chopsticks. They they tip the bowl and shovel to get the leftovers (the best part IMO). I'm a chopstick man myself, I've got a few sets that I can wash and use over and over.

personally, I believe hominids were using chopsticks 120,000 years ago

;)

your new Holier-than-Zhou attitude? ;)

Asian wice > that UNCLE BENt over rice and middle-eastern rice ANYDAY.

Asian rice is pretty different then american rice. There rice is sticky and clumps together so you can actually eat it with chopsticks. They they tip the bowl and shovel to get the leftovers (the best part IMO). I'm a chopstick man myself, I've got a few sets that I can wash and use over and over.

I know that...Besides the white mans rice sucks. But still I bet I can get more rice with a fork than with a chopstick, especially when I'm trying to "shovel" the left over rice from the bowl.

you can shovel rice with chopsticks. well, asian rice anyway.

asian rice is sticky and clumps up, so its very easy to eat with chopsticks.

at home i usually grab whatever is closer... fork or chopsticks. in reality, i don't feel a huge advantage to eating with either.

somethings just need a fork though. like steak... anything tough and hard to eat. other things really need chopsticks. i can't stand eating noodles with a fork. yes i eat spagetti with tomato sauce with chopsticks... lol.

Well if we're gonna talk about shoveling rice, I feel a soup spoon would be the tool best suited for doing so. Eating rice with a fork never made much sense to me either, why pick up little 1/2 inch long grains of rice with a utensil that has holes in it?

^ taking that in to consideration I give you the spork!
http://members.gamedev.net/fruny/forums/magic/spork.jpghttp://www.howstrange.com/gallery/american_spork.jpg

batman uses chop stick like a pro.

i think itd be funny to make magnettic chopsticks lol but with the same polarity hahahaha

oh and we have cool plastic chopsticks and i can make bamboo chopsticks any time on acount of the bamboo behind my house

Well if we're gonna talk about shoveling rice, I feel a soup spoon would be the tool best suited for doing so. Eating rice with a fork never made much sense to me either, why pick up little 1/2 inch long grains of rice with a utensil that has holes in it?thats realy big rice

Yeah, I think my reference better suits that vermicelli shit in Rice-a-Roni. I don't know how fucking long a grain of rice is, 1/4 inch? 1/8 inch?

Yeah, I think my reference better suits that vermicelli shit in Rice-a-Roni. I don't know how fucking long a grain of rice is, 1/4 inch? 1/8 inch?

totally depends on the type of rice. for instance indian rice has very long grains.