Use of Bamboo
Bamboo is a plant known for its great variety of uses, both decorative and practical. One resource book even lists over 5,000 uses. The popular use of bamboo in the west is an ornamental while for people in Asia in early times it was a valuable and one of the most important raw materials used for making numerous useful objects.
Going Though Time
Thomas Edison successfully used a carbonized bamboo filament in his experiment with the first light bulb. This light bulb still burns today in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC. Ancient Chinese made houses and fences out of bamboo; in rice field, long and big Mao bamboo was made into waterwheels and water pipes for irrigation. Bamboo chairs, tables, curtains and chopsticks were common furniture in ordinary people’s homes.
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