| 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 Jiang- su 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.).Chinese people 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. |
