Care for some bamboo brew?
According to local annals, bamboo began to grow in the Bamboo Sea about 3,000 years ago. Since ancient times, bamboo has been indispensable to locals, who still use it to build houses, brew alcohol, make tools and utensils for daily use, and create musical instruments and souvenirs.
The indispensability of bamboo explains the Chinese people's long admiration for the plant, which has been a constant inspiration in the life and art of the country.
The scholar Su Dongpo (1037-1101), of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), had once famously said: "I would rather eat without meat than live without bamboo."
Bamboo is revered in Chinese culture because of its unique features.
Poet Bai Juyi (AD 772-846) of the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907) described bamboo as being firm, straight, empty inside and divided into segments and related them to desirable moral traits, such as grittiness, modesty and openness.
Since then, scholars have compared bamboo to men of moral integrity. Chinese scholars have spoken highly of bamboo and it is closely related to the traditional Chinese hermit culture.
In most stories about hermits, they are shown to live amid bamboo groves as a bamboo forest provides a peaceful and secluded environment.
China Daily
(China Daily 02/21/2008 page19)
