He seems optimistic about the newfound potential of bamboo to bring income to his community. Now, bamboo is percent of income in the area. The government has encouraged local people to 'do better', to plant more bamboo in the same area. Unbeknownst to many locals, this has resulted in serious negative effects on local ecosystems, worrying environmental and scientific observers. The trends of monoculture forests leads to biodiversity loss and ecosystem service decrease.
Local communities believe that monocultures can bring more income. To change this strong belief is the main challenge. This iconic symbol of China, a recurring feature throughout Chinese art, writing and history, is unwittingly involved in a new and impending ecological crisis that is silently gripping this region. Your support ensures great journalism and education on underreported and systemic global issues. Main Menu Navigation.
View Primary Menu Search. Translate page with Google. Sean Gallagher Grantee. A factory worker holds a piece of bamboo. Bamboo removal in China has grown from million tons in to 1. Image by Sean Gallagher. It seems each plant has an internal clock to count the years before it decides to flower. For creatures relying on bamboo for food , mass flowering followed by death is a catastrophe.
For instance Giant Pandas are at risk from starvation after bamboo flowers because whole mountain sides are defoliated. For bamboo this is a clever strategy because all the pests and diseases will have been eradicated when it sprouts again from seeds. Bamboo was used for printing as far back as the Shang dynasty. Bamboo stems were used as counting rods in the early Chinese form of the abacus. Multiplication tables dating back over 2, years have been found in Mongolia inscribed onto bamboo. A calligrapher's brush handle is traditionally made of bamboo and so it is closely associated with writing and calligraphy.
Bamboo features heavily in paintings, perhaps for this reason. The fact that bamboo stems culms are hollow has been used to symbolize modesty.
The internal divisions between sections are said to represent the steps to righteousness. In a painting it evokes peace and harmony. Some painters dedicate themselves to painting nothing except bamboo.
For more about the general symbolism of bamboo see our symbolism section. To complete the importance of bamboo to the scholar, pots for brushes are often made of finely decorated bamboo. Bamboo's tough fibers are a major constituent of early paper in China a Chinese invention. After 3 years of brewing, the natural essence of wine is produced; b bamboo straw hat is made of woven bamboo leaves and wicker.
The hat is sturdy and beautifully designed; c back basket—this backpack is a clothing worn by Huayao Dai minority endemic to Yunnan. This basket is worn at the back, can be decorated, and can hold small things.
It has a role in beautification; d bamboo flute—the flute is a popular musical instrument in Chinese classical music and is made of natural bamboo; e bamboo pendant—Chinese words or pictures are engraved in these pendants for good luck; f bamboo shoot—bamboo shoot is used in Chinese traditional dishes and has a long history of eating and cultivation; and g bamboo charcoal—bamboo charcoal is widely used as fuel because it cannot be easily burned.
Bamboo charcoal is also widely used in food, cooking, baking, storage, and preservation. Bamboos are multipurpose plants of high economic and environmental value.
Bamboo is one of the Non-Timber Forest Products NTFPs that has considerable potential as a wood substitute because of its high growth rate, good mechanical properties, and broad range of applications, especially in industrial fields. Bamboo has become a high-tech industrial raw material and substitute for wood. According to data collected in this chapter, China contains the most abundant and diverse bamboo forest worldwide.
A total of species and infraspecific taxa belonging to 43 genera have been reported and include species, 52 varieties, 98 forma, and 4 hybrids, which are naturally distributed in 21 provinces in China. The national bamboo forest area is 6. The bamboo forest is mainly distributed in 18 provinces and mostly comprises Moso bamboo.
Although Yunnan has only Bamboo forests can be divided into three types, namely cool temperate bamboo forests, warm and temperate bamboo forests, and hot bamboo forests. Different types of bamboos have various uses, commercial values, and ecological functions. Bamboo plays an immense role in the development of Chinese historical culture and the formation of Chinese ideology.
At present, China ranks first in bamboo research worldwide, because of its numerous bamboo research units and strong technical force. In addition, many of the key bamboo timber-producing provinces and counties and large bamboo handicraft factories have set up a group of full-time staff engaged in bamboo science and technology work.
Bamboo research covers a wide range of topics including the classification of germplasm resources, the application of bamboo, and the improvement in the aspects of high-yield cultivation, processing, and utilization [ 16 ]. Energy development and utilization have become inevitable for sustainable development of economy and society.
At present, China has limited energy supply, which is much lower than the world average supply of only Bamboo is a renewable resource with many uses and may be considered as a lignocellulose substrate for bioethanol production because of its environmental benefits and high annual biomass yield [ 18 ].
Biological bamboo resources are mainly used in two ways. First, bamboos are used as raw materials in bioethanol production. Second, bamboos are used as raw materials for power generation [ 17 ].
The use of bamboos as new raw materials for energy supply in the bioenergy industry has opened up novel strategies and growth points for the development of the bamboo industry. Using bamboos to provide bioenergy is an important area to be explored in the future. This phenomenon requires careful and strategic planning based on adequate knowledge on the availability and potential use of bamboo resources for society and environment and on their production and growth behavior [ 19 ]. Therefore, how to rationally protect and utilize the abundant bamboo resources in China will be a major problem to be solved in the future.
Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3. Help us write another book on this subject and reach those readers. Login to your personal dashboard for more detailed statistics on your publications. Edited by H. Abdul Khalil. Edited by Amjad Almusaed. We are IntechOpen, the world's leading publisher of Open Access books. Built by scientists, for scientists.
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Keywords China bamboo resources utilization Moso bamboo. Introduction Bamboo belongs to the subfamily Bambusoideae and may be grown in any temperate climate zones in Asia, Africa, and Latin America [ 1 ]. Provinces Provinces Fujian Table 1. Table 2.
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