Bamboo – the most Chinese of Plants
Powder pipes
Around the 10th century A.D. there are examples of the use of bamboo tubes as or at least in the production of firearms.
There is an amusing story from the time of the Yuan dynasty a few years later whose truthfulness is difficult to verify. It is repeatedly portrayed as an attempt of a first manned spaceflight.
A man is said to have tried to enter space by tying several bamboo tubes filled with black powder to a chair and then set them on fire. He flew high up in the air and was never seen again.
China’s current space ventures seem far more promising.
Construction
Still today one could see construction sites where flexible bamboo scaffolds rise to dizzying heights. What at first seems filigree and fragile, turns out to be extremely resistant once stormy weather arrives.
In the Han dynasty some imperial buildings were partly built from bamboo. And even today, the Dai （傣族）, a minority from southwest China, build two-storey houses made of bamboo.
The building material is suitable even for large buildings and offers its excellent properties as protection against earthquakes and typhoons.
Necessities
Bamboo fiber fabrics are a popular material for clothing, bedclothes and mats. Their use dates back to the Eastern Han Dynasty. Then, for the first time, at least as far as one can tell, cloth was woven from bamboo fibers. First -how could it be otherwise – especially for the ruler.
Furniture and cutlery were also made from bamboo early on. Objects of everyday use are also full of this material. Almost everything in a household can be made of bamboo. From chopsticks to decorative objects, room dividers and any form of seating, brooms, tools of all kinds and containers.
Music
Many traditional instruments are made of bamboo, such as the Sheng, Dizi and Xiao.
In the Tang Dynasty, musicians were called ZhuRen （竹人）, which means bamboo people. Because almost all the instruments were made of bamboo, at least some part of them.
Even in medicine, this plant is used. Among other things, an extract of bamboo seems to help very well against nausea.