Bamboo: A Supreme Technology
Our
modern world is fascinated by the constant progress of technology,
enlarging everyday a little bit more the boundaries of our limitations,
improving our knowledge and increasing our understanding of our
environment through science and giving us a permanent new light to the
past and also ….to the future.
However, the strongest
technology, the one at the origin of all present applications through
its own creation, the Life, is Mother Nature.
Among the
countless elements participating to this gigantic permanent
manifestation of energy, bamboo has been one of those which reliably
supported the development and protection of nature's most valuable
creation; Humanity.
Bamboo has been used in Japan and China for
a very, very long time. The oldest archaeological finds of bamboo
articles in China were unearthed from the remains of a primitive
society that existed some 7,000 years ago in what is now Hemudu, Yuyao
County, Zhejiang Province. China is known as the Kingdom of Bamboo
because it has the most bamboo of any country in the world. One third
of all the more than 400 known species in the world, grow in China.
All
along its history with humanity, either in its original form or
processed as bamboo charcoal, bamboo vinegar, bamboo fabric or
traditional Reiki Bamboo Charcoal bamboo has been used for making
furniture, food, medicine, paper, clothing & and tools, serving for
transportation and construction, inspiring artists as well, among so
many other applications.
Bamboo comes from a long way and has still a lot to offer.
Today
we re-discover that the unique properties of bamboo can have even more
healthy applications in our daily lives and it is what this site is all
about: Do our part to bring this great information to the public and
promote natural organic products made of bamboo that will usefully
improve your health.
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Quick History of Bamboo
As
early as the Shang Dynasty (16th-11th century B.C.), the Chinese used
bamboo for making household articles and weapons, such as bows and
arrows. Before paper was invented, slips of bamboo were the most
important writing medium. More widely used than silk, for example,
because they were cheaper, resistant to corrosion, and more abundant.
Bamboo has thus played an important part in the spread and development
of traditional Chinese culture.
Bamboo was closely connected
with the daily lives of people in ancient China. Su Dongpo (1037-1101),
a literary giant of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), said that people could
not live without bamboo. The people of the time used bamboo as firewood
and to make tiles, paper, rafts, hats, rain capes, and shoes. At that
time, as today, bamboo shoots were eaten as a popular dish because of
their crispness and fresh, sweet taste. Bamboo shoots also contain
vitamins, sugar, fat, and protein.
In the Han Dynasty (206
B.C.-A.D.220) bamboo was used for papermaking because it produced
high-quality paper and was inexpensive - three tons of bamboo could
yield one ton of paper pulp. Bamboo is still an important raw material
for papermaking today. Some 1,600 years ago, people wrote with brushes
on xuan paper made from young bamboo. Xuan paper is still popular for
Chinese calligraphy and paintings.
Today bamboo is widely used
for household articles such as mats, beds, pillows, benches, chairs,
cabinets, buckets, chopsticks, spoons, baskets, and handheld fans. It
is also used to make traditional Chinese musical instruments such as
the sheng, a reed instrument; the di, a flute; and the xiao, a flute
held vertically.
Woven bamboo arts and crafts come in a wide
variety, including toy animals, lanterns, flower baskets, trays, tea
boxes, screens, and curtains. Bamboo weaving is popular in the
provinces of Guangdong, Fujian, Hunan, Sichuan, and Anhui as well as
Zhejiang which has a history of bamboo weaving going back more than
2,000 years.
Bamboo is also used in Chinese medicine. The
leaves eliminate heat and phlegm; the juice cures strode, insanity, and
a kind of asthma caused by excessive phlegm; and the root can stimulate
the vital forces, quench thirst, and promote lactation.
Bamboo's
resistance to stretching and its ability to support weight are at least
double those of other kinds of wood, making bamboo an ideal material
for houses, scaffolding, supporting pillars, and work sheds.
Tall
and graceful with luxuriant foliage, bamboo is an ideal plant for
household courtyards and parks. It tolerates the heat of summer and the
cold of winter, it grows on unfertile land, and it regenerates after
being cut.
Throughout the centuries, bamboo has inspired the
imagination of artists, while men of letters have written poetry and
prose to express their admiration for the purity and elegance of
bamboo. They compared the qualities of bamboo to those of a man, and Su
Dongpo attributed his literary inspiration to bamboo. Bamboo was also a
favorite subject of noted Chinese painters of past dynasties.
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Bamboo: Choosing green fulfillment for healthy living everyday.
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