The spoon (, bǐ) was known as early as the
Shang dynasty. The earliest found were made of bone, but bronze specimens are also found that have sharp points, suggesting they were used for cutting. These could be more than a foot long. During the
Spring and Autumn period a rounder form appeared, and lacquer spoons are also found, becoming popular in the
Han dynasty. In ancient China the spoon was more common than
chopsticks, which were used in cooking. The spoon was more useful for eating because the most common food grain in North China was
millet, which was made into a
congee, or gruel. The spoon was better fitted for eating its soupy texture in an elegant way. The spoon was gradually undermined as the most common eating utensil starting in the Han, roughly the 1st century A.D., when
wheat began to be more widely grown.
Milling technology became sophisticated enough to produce flour for noodles and dumplings. Since these were more easily lifted with chopsticks, the spoon lost its prominence by about the
Song dynasty, or 10th century. Early-ripening rice, which was introduced from
Vietnam at this time, was even easier to eat with chopsticks, since it cooked into clumps. In the system of classification used in the
Kangxi Dictionary, compiled in the 18th century,
Radical 21 (classifier #21) is "spoon." ==Spoons in history==