Bamboo – the most Chinese of Plants
Plant
Bamboo is found in Asian and Western parks. It is resistant and can be reset to the ground like grass without any problems. It simply grows again. Neither cold winters nor hot summers can do him much harm. And it is frugal. Almost any soil is enough.
Forage plant
As food, bamboo serves not only the stereotypical panda, which feeds on nothing else and devours insane amounts of this grass every day. Bamboo is one of many vegetables on the menu of the human population of China.
The panda is also in danger of extinction since it is adapted to one single plant of which it needs enormous amounts. And the animal finds only ideal living conditions when the bamboo grows in dense forests.
With increasing urbanization, the once large bamboo forests disappear and thus also the habitat of the lovely panda. The panda might be an ideal metaphor for the fact that diversification is recommended wherever, whenever.
Crafts
The elegance and supposed purity of bamboo have been praised, and through its use in handicrafts, artists of many eras created masterpieces.
The art of bamboo carving has been spreading since the Ming Dynasty, although objects of this folk art are known from before. All kinds of motifs are being carved in the surface of bamboo furniture, on containers or decorative objects in a kind of relief.
This art is often used to ornament architectural elements such as archways, pavilions, etc.