The enduring legacy of bamboo, a symbol of resilience, strength and adaptability in Asia

Bamboo, a subfamily of typically fast-growing, tall, tree-like grasses, is found in tropical, subtropical and mild temperate regions across almost all continents, except Antarctica and Europe. In prehistoric South, East and Southeast Asia, it is well known for its use in tools, weapons, means of construction, transport and food. Due to its characteristics of bending without breaking and remaining evergreen, bamboo symbolises resilience, strength and adaptability, as well as prosperity and fertility. The ancient Chinese poetry collection Book of Songs contains numerous references to bamboo symbolising family prosperity. Europeans’ encounters with the plant and its name during their age of exploration are first attested in the writings of Portuguese doctor, herbalist and naturalist Garcia de Orta, who worked primarily in Goa and Bombay in Portuguese India. In his 1563 Coloquios dos Simples, the earliest European treatise on the medicinal and economic plants of India, he writes of “aquellas canas daquella arvore chamam os Indios, onde nasce, mambu”, describing “the canes of that tree the Indians, where it grows, call mambu”. Similarly, bamboe is documented in the 1598 writings of Dutch merchant traveller J.H. van Linschoten, as (in the English translation) “a thicke reede, as big as a mans legge, which is called Bambus”. While some point to Sumatran Malay, Sundanese and Javanese bambu, or an old Malay word samambu, as the source of this word in European languages, many accounts concur that the ultimate origin lies in the Dravidian language Kannada bănbŭ or banwu. “Bamboo” lends itself to several concepts, given its strong associations with East Asia. The “bamboo curtain” – coined by analogy to Europe’s Iron Curtain – refers to the political and economic barrier, from 1949 to 1972, between communist territories of East Asia, particularly the People’s Republic of China, and non-Communist countries. The “bamboo network” conceptualises the vast constellation of businesses owned and run by overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia – notably the Min/Hokkien communities – which has flourished for more than a century, tracing back to the mass migrations of Chinese labourers and traders during the Qing dynasty (1644-1912) and the colonial period. Built on familial ties, trust and values, the network links the region to the economies of Greater China. The “bamboo ceiling” is an offshoot of the “glass ceiling”, both metaphors for systemic barriers in the workplace. The “glass ceiling”, coined in the 1970s, refers to the invisible barrier that prevents women from advancing to higher positions because of their gender. Extending this concept, the “bamboo ceiling”, coined in 2005, references the combination of individual, cultural and organisational factors that impede the career progress of Asian-Americans, particularly in reaching senior leadership positions. In Chinese languages, the concept of bamboo – zūk (竹) in Cantonese, or zhū in Mandarin – generally evokes positive traits such as steadiness and resilience. An interesting exception is found in Cantonese, where a term with more negative connotations exists: zūk sīng (竹升). The term refers to a bamboo pole, describing someone who is more Western than Chinese, due to having been born or raised or having spent a significant amount of time overseas and being devoid of Chinese culture and values, much like a hollow bamboo pole. The original term for a bamboo pole was actually zūk gong (竹杠). However, the second character is homophonous with the character gong (降), which has the potentially inauspicious meaning of “fall” or “decrease”. Thus, this character was replaced with its opposite: sīng (升), meaning “rise”. Bamboo scaffolding – zūk pàahng (竹棚) in Cantonese – has been made a scapegoat by some commentators for the devastating fire that razed Wang Fuk Court in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district last week. The practice of bamboo scaffolding, which dates back millennia in China, has long been the most iconic of construction materials and practices in Hong Kong, characterising the city’s urban landscape. Its particular use for constructing temporary Cantonese opera stages – Bamboo Theatre Building Technique – was inscribed on the Hong Kong Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2017.

The enduring legacy of bamboo, a symbol of resilience, strength and adaptability in Asia

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Bamboo is used in everything from construction to food throughout Asia, and even lends itself to global concepts like the ‘bamboo curtain’

Bamboo is used in everything from construction to food throughout Asia, and even lends itself to global concepts like the ‘bamboo curtain’