BAMBOO IN DAILY LIFE

Bamboo paper and tablets

In China, bamboo is an integral part of the country's traditions and culture. Chinese culture has been transmitted down through the ages thanks to bamboo brushes, bound tablets and paper.

The earliest forms of books in China were bamboo or wooden tablets bound together with strands of flax. Since the late 19th century, no fewer than 40,000 such tablets have been discovered at archaeology sites, the oldest of them dating as far back as the Warring States period (476-221 B.C.).

These bamboo tablets, about 2 cm wide and less than 70 cm long, could hold about thirty characters written in a long column. This is where the traditional Chinese writing style, from top to bottom and right to left, comes from.

Sometime between the 3rd and 4th centuries, silk and paper took over from these tablets. But bamboo would reappear five centuries later, as an ingredient in pulp and papermaking.

Bamboo in daily life A giant grass Great strength Coloured culms A vast underground network Edible bamboo Flowers... but when? Spectacular growth Like a telescopic antenna The bamboo house of Dai Built on pilings Bamboo paper and tablets From top to bottom and from right to left The embodiment of grace Seizing the vision Bamboo's virtues Bamboo in daily life Bam! Bou! Giant panda Single and solitary Red panda A protect species A carnivore Our bamboo collection Growing bamboo locally Growing bamboo Water and heat Bamboo as a lawn Indoor plants Suppliers