"Summertime, and the livin' is easy. Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high ..." George Gershwin's jazz classic is an ode to the season, and if you replace "cotton" with "bamboo", you could just about paint the perfect picture of summer in Beijing's Zizhuyuan Park.

Built in 1953, Zizhuyuan (or Purple Bamboo) Park is one of the seven largest green lungs in Beijing. It is a classically landscaped Chinese garden located in the western part of the city, and it's known for its lush bamboos.

You are lost in a world of bamboo almost as soon as you enter the park. The gate, tables and chairs are all made of bamboo, and even the bridges and pavilions are landscaped with this elegant plant, one of the four favorite botanical icons along with Chinese plum, orchid and chrysanthemum. Together, they are known as the "Four Men of Honor" or si jun zi.

Three lakes with arched bridges are filled with lotus; water takes up about a third of the park. The bridges also link the two islets on the water. The river Changhe flows to the north of the lakes.

More than 50 species of bamboo are nurtured here - around 400,000 plants include mottled bamboos, fish-pole bamboos and by far the most common, the signature purple bamboo.

If you go to the park any time before the end of August, you can also float slowly downstream along the 800-meter-long ancient river and enjoy the pleasant fragrance of lotus in full bloom.

The park holds a Bamboo and Lotus Festival annually, which attracts more than 20,000 visitors every day. It starts in early August and lasts a whole month.

Wang Jing, director of the park, says floriculture masters will be invited to create artistic works on site with bamboo leaves and lotus from the park. And as usual, the Zhuyun restaurant in the park will feature bamboo cuisine from Sichuan, the province that produces the most bamboo in China.

Perhaps no other country in the world has a closer relationship with bamboo than China does. For centuries, bamboo has been a material for arts and crafts, and it is also a symbol of integrity that appears in many traditional Chinese paintings. Bamboo shoots are a popular dish still favored today.

You can contact the writer at liuyujie@chinadaily.com.cn.

China Daily

(China Daily 07/31/2011 page15)