Bamboo, The popular, ancient and newcoming wood
Posted on Wednesday, December 19, 2007 at 11:07 AM by Sifu Smith
Posted in Stories
History: Bamboo has been used in China for
over 5000 years - the earliest history of bamboo use in the entire
world. In ancient China, bamboo was used for making books, food, paper,
some of the greatest palace buildings the Emperors had and many other
items. In the Jin Dynasty a special book on bamboo was written in
265-316 A.D., in which many of China's bamboo species were recorded in
detail. It was the last native Chinese dynasty to rule the empire the
Ming Dynasty, spanning almost three centuries between 1368 and 1644 to
use bamboo as bedding. Some historians argue that Early Ming China was
the most advanced nation on Earth at the time.
China is known as the Kingdom of Bamboo because it has the most bamboo of any country in the world. More than 400 species of bamboo, one third of all the known species in the world, grow in China. China leads the world in the amount of area planted with bamboo, the number of bamboo trees, and the amount of bamboo wood produced every year. The areas that produce the most bamboo are south of the Changjiang (Yangtze) River, and the biggest producers are Sichuan, An hui, Zhejiang, Fujian, Hunan, Guangdong, Jiangxi, and Jiangsu provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
The oldest archaeological finds of bamboo articles in China were unearthed from the remains of a primitive society that existed some 7,000 years ago in what is now Hemudu, Yuyao County, Zhejiang Province. As early as the Shang Dynasty (16th-11th century B.C.), the Chinese used bamboo for making household articles and weapons, such as bows and arrows. Before paper was invented, slips of bamboo were the most important writing medium. More widely used than silk, for example, because they were cheaper, resistant to corrosion, and more abundant. Bamboo has thus played an important part in the spread and development of traditional Chinese culture. (This story is located at: http://www.jmxbamboo.com/historyofbamboo.aspx)
Panda: Bamboo is the natural food for the Panda and scarcity of its supply led to the death of 250 giant pandas. On August 21, 1999, however, animal lovers the world over rejoiced as Hua Mei became one of just a handful of baby giant pandas ever to be born in captivity. This week, NATURE's THE PANDA BABY tells the inspiring story of this pint-sized arrival -- the product of years of focused and often frustrating work by scientists and conservationists in China and at the World-Famous San Diego Zoo in California.
Native to the misty bamboo forests of central China, giant pandas are
among the best known -- and most endangered -- animals in the world.
Scientists have named them Ailuropoda melanoleuca, meaning "black and
white cat-footed animal." In China, they are known as Daxiongmao, which
means "large bear cat."
But conservationists estimate that only about 1,000 of the big black and white bamboo-eating bears remain in the wild in China, where they are threatened by habitat loss and hunting. Another 140 live in breeding facilities and zoos, with about 20 of those captive bears living outside their homeland. In the United States, just three zoos -- in Atlanta, San Diego, and Washington, D.C. -- shelter pandas. The animals are precious, with the zoos paying up to $1 million a year to the Chinese government for the privilege of "borrowing" the animals for display and study. (Reference:http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/panda/bamboo.html)
Philosophical: The Taoist say that it would be ideal for a person to emulate and recognize the similairity of its growth to our mind development. The Bamboo is very flexible and resiliant. When the storms come through, the large stronger trees break and uproot. The bamboo bends and responds without resisisting, making it through the storm. Chinese bamboo develops much like our minds. One can spend months, if not years to get the bamboo to grow and literally the development is tiny. Then one day, after consistent attention it grows to an astonishing height.
Our minds tend to 'click' in this way. Not until it is time, will it be time, but the care and practice we take in understanding are essential for our development.
Bamboo, The popular, ancient and newcoming wood Edited on: Wednesday, December 19, 2007 11:17 AM