When you hear the three words \"bamboo industry,\" what is the first product that comes to mind?<\/p>\n
Bamboo chopsticks, bamboo baskets, or bamboo shoots?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The formation of an industry relies on the establishment of the production, distribution, and marketing processes for specific products. Although Taiwan has a history of over a century of utilizing bamboo to improve daily life, its industrialization has a history of only nearly 80 years. According to research by Professor Huang Shih-hui from National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, the evolution of Taiwan's bamboo industry can be roughly divided into:<\/p>\n
Strictly speaking, Taiwan's bamboo industry can also be divided into two directions\u2014mechanized production and handmade production\u2014based on its two major hubs: Zhushan in Nantou and Guanyuan in Tainan. However, the industrial development of both is attributed to the bamboo craft techniques introduced to Taiwan by Japanese artisans after 1929, which enabled the development of Taiwan's first-generation bamboo craft industry based on handmade production.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In 1929, during the middle of the Japanese colonial period, after numerous protests by bamboo farmers over land requisition in Zhushan and Caotun, Nantou, the Governor-General's Office began to place importance on the cultivation of bamboo craft talent in Taiwan. It started dispatching Japanese master artisans to Taiwan to teach, and subsequently in 1938 officially established the most important institution for the cultivation of fine bamboo craft talent: the Zhushan Commandery Bamboo Craft Training Institute.<\/p>\n
From then on, the number of bamboo artisans in Zhushan, Nantou, increased significantly, laying the foundation for industrialization. Masters of bamboo craft such as Huang Tushan and Mo Yongchong both emerged from the Zhushan County Bamboo Craft Training Center of this period. At that time, production mainly focused on items such as flower baskets, sundries boxes, and packaging boxes.<\/p>\n
In 1947, two years after the end of the Japanese colonial period, the vast bamboo forests that had been confiscated following the unsuccessful protests of Zhushan bamboo farmers during the Japanese era were still not returned to the people. This led the bamboo farmers of Zhushan, Nantou, to gather once again to file a petition with the National Assembly of the Republic of China, ultimately securing permission to form a farmers' self-managed production cooperative and recovering the right to use the bamboo forests.<\/p>\n
Since then, the supply of raw bamboo in Zhushan, Nantou, increased significantly, forming the prototype of the bamboo industry, which was centered around handcrafted bamboo utensils. During the same period in 1955, the Taiwan Handicraft Promotion Center and the China Productivity Center were successively established with the goal of promoting Taiwan's handicrafts. The fine bamboo-weaving techniques previously taught only in Zhushan, Nantou, were also introduced to Guanmiao, Tainan. This enabled Guanmiao, which already possessed long-branch bamboo resources, to simultaneously develop its own bamboo craft industry, leading to the establishment of a large number of independent handicraft workshops during this period.<\/p>\n
In 1970, after a decade of economic development plans, Japan experienced soaring prices and labor costs. Consequently, capital, factories, and machinery from the bamboo industry instantly shifted to investments in Taiwan, stimulating the development of the bamboo manufacturing industry, centered around Zhushan in Nantou. In addition to processing bamboo into various bamboo products, Taiwan also began manufacturing machinery to increase the production efficiency of bamboo goods.<\/p>\n
Driven by government-promoted machinery and revolving loans for the bamboo industry, along with a massive influx of overseas orders, mechanized bamboo factories producing items such as bamboo knitting needles, bamboo furniture, and bamboo chopsticks\u2014led by Zhushan in Nantou\u2014were established in large numbers. At one point, there were about 2,000 bamboo factories across Taiwan, with around 500 officially registered bamboo factories in Zhushan alone. During this same period, Guanting in Nantou, which was less mechanized, sustained the development of its handicraft industry through the handmade \"living room is the factory\" approach.<\/p>\n
In 1987, Taiwan officially lifted martial law and permitted family visits to mainland China, while also loosening foreign exchange controls. Suddenly, Taiwanese businessmen\u2014known as \"Taishang\"\u2014connected with China, which was dubbed the world's factory, becoming prominent in Taiwan. The bamboo industry was no exception, as it was relocated to China by Taiwanese businessmen, causing the domestic bamboo industry to gradually decline.<\/p>\n
Following the bamboo mosaic virus outbreaks that successively erupted after 1978, coupled with industrial relocation and the shrinking of bamboo forests, Zhushan in Nantou, Taiwan, once strove to regroup by establishing organizations such as the Chuching Bamboo Culture Park and setting up a production cooperative. However, the devastating 921 earthquake in 1999 severely damaged the park. Witnessing Taiwan's bamboo industry heading toward its sunset, organizations such as the Industrial Technology Research Institute, the Forestry Bureau, and the Council of Labor Affairs did not turn a blind eye. Instead, after 1999, they became more actively involved in the new development of the bamboo industry, beginning to guide and research the development of higher economic-value products such as bamboo charcoal and bamboo vinegar.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, after 1987, craftspeople in Nantou's Zhushan and Tainan's Guanhua, whose handmade craft industries were primarily manual, began transitioning to teaching. Driven by the Ministry of Culture, bamboo crafting has been elevated from an industry to a traditional art; what were once factory products are now preserved as techniques in bamboo weaving and fine bamboo craftsmanship.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
After 2000, Taiwan's bamboo industry also began to align with international trends, repositioning bamboo as an \"eco-friendly\" medium and utilizing it in a wider range of daily necessities and even architecture. Furthermore, taking advantage of bamboo's versatile applications and rapid growth characteristics as an opportunity to help develop disadvantaged regions, Taiwan formed teams to introduce bamboo species and craftsmanship to countries in Africa, thereby improving their living standards and economic capacity.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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