Chinese Bamboo Culture
By admin on 2015-01-12

The bamboo plant is the staple food of the giant panda and a cultural icon in Chinese history. In ancient China bamboo was a feature of various aspects of daily life. It was used for food, clothing, housing and transportation. China's first books were crafted from bamboo strips strung on string, and almost all ancient musical instruments were made of bamboo. Bamboo also had assigned roles within feudal ethics.

Chinese ancients designated the plum, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum as "four gentlemen," and pine, bamboo and plum as the "three friends in winter." Renowned Tang poet Bai Juyi (772-846) summed up the merits of bamboo according to its characteristics: its deep root denotes resoluteness, its tall, straight stem represents honorability, its hollow interior modesty and its clean and spartan exterior exemplifies chastity. He thus concluded that bamboo lives up to the title "gentleman."

Besides being a symbol of virtue, bamboo was believed to be endowed with soul and emotion.

The mottled bamboo is the "bamboo of imperial concubines." This epithet has its origins in a story about Emperor Shun, who died of overwork during an inspection tour of the south. He was buried in what is now Hunan Province, and as his wives Ehuang and Nuying mourned him by the Xiangjiang River, their tears fell on and stained bamboo growing on its bank.. A Tang poet wrote: "The trace of tears on bamboo gives expression to bitter yearning."

Another breed of bamboo, Mengzong, honors a dutiful son. Meng Zong was a student during the Three Kingdoms Period (AD 220-280). His father died when he was an infant, and his mother was later stricken with a serious illness that did not respond to conventional medicine. The doctor suggested that soup made from bamboo shoots might help, but they were impossible to find in winter. Desperation and grief reduced Meng to tears. His sincerity moved the heavens, and several bamboo shoots broke through the soil. After taking the soup his mother recovered, and word of Meng's filial piety soon became known across the state.

Ancient Chinese literati held bamboo in profound esteem. This explains why there are so many writings and paintings dedicated to it throughout history.

Of all the painters in history, Zheng Banqiao (AD1693-1765) of the Qing Dynasty is believed to have been the best at drawing bamboo. As a teenager, he put white paper on a lattice window, and observed the shadows of bamboo. His paintings focused on the vitality of the plant, portraying it as spare and aloof yet sturdy and proud. An inscription on one of his bamboo paintings reads: "Firmly cleave to the mountain, take root in a fractured bluff; grow stronger after tribulations, and withstand gales from all directions."

Today as people become more aware of the interaction between mankind and nature, the establishment of bamboo preserves should bring growing areas of bamboo forest. This will be of great benefit to the giant panda, and can also be viewed as a restoration of traditional Chinese values.

In sharp contrast to other plants, the bamboo only blossoms every 60 to 80 years, and perishes soon after. It takes one to three decades for its seeds to grow. In the past 3 million years bamboos have undergone more than 50,000 extensive blooms. Pandas survived by migrating, but this is no longer an option owing to the sharp decrease of bamboo forests. The last two bloomings of bamboo caused 250 giant pandas to starve to death.