Innovative Materials from Bamboo Are Helping a New Industry to Sprout创新竹材促生新兴产业

贺光荣

Bamboo is versatile， environmental-friendly and， with support from China’s government， increasingly high-tech.竹子用途廣泛，有利环保，在中国政府的支持下，日益走向高技术化。

Fanning out from the sodden delta of the Yangtze， and southward to the flanks of the Nanling mountains， over 6m hectares of emerald bamboo groves—one-fifth of the world’s reserves—flourish in China. Giant pandas nibble the softest shoots. Around 40bn pairs of disposable chopsticks are made from bamboo twigs annually in China， for use with everyday meals. Steel scaffolding is still often shunned for bamboo on skyscrapers under construction in even the ritziest parts of Hong Kong. The history of the grass is colorful， too. Before paper， Chinese wrote on bamboo slips; they used bamboo tubes for irrigation， and later stuffed them with gunpowder to ignite muskets.

Yet for all its importance and abundance bamboo is “China’s forgotten plant”， says Martin Tam1， an expert in Hong Kong. To demonstrate its potential， he greets visitors with a can of bamboo juice， proffers a bamboo business card， and gestures to a bamboo armchair near his desk. He says the plant should be “green gold”， for it is one of the world’s swiftest growers， gaining up to 1m a day， and can be harvested in under ten years， half the time it takes for the softest woods to mature. Its tensile strength is greater than that of mild steel. It withstands compression twice as well as concrete， and needs next to2 no watering， pesticides or fertilisers.

But the hard work begins after it is cut. Though it thrives in steamy， rain-drenched areas， bamboo products require a lot of treatment to withstand sunshine and moisture， as they still contain sugar and water. A string of lacquers， resins， waxes， bleaches and preservatives are required to stave off termites and decay. As a result， manufacturing has remained labour-intensive， crude and small-scale， says Mr Tam. Factories nestle in bamboo groves. Margins are low. Toothpicks， matchsticks， incense sticks3， mats and baskets are still among the plant’s most common offshoots. Selling “poor man’s timber” to Chinese is hard. In Shengzhou， among the most prolific regions in Zhejiang province in eastern China， about 95% bamboo handicrafts are exported.

But the material’s prospects are improving. One reason is environmental awareness. Chinese firms account for 90% of the international export market for laminated bamboo flooring， the appeal of which has grown as Western consumers go green. In 2016 factories churned out 116m square metres of it. The International Bamboo and Rattan Organisation， an intergovernmental body based in Beijing， says the renewable， low-carbon alternative to plastics and timber is now “part of China’s environmental leadership’s bid”. Bamboo release lots of oxygen into the air， swallowing four times as much carbon as some trees. Since 2012， Chinese companies can offset their carbon emissions by buying credits in bamboo plantations.

At a forum on President Xi Jinping’s “Belt and Road” initiative for better infrastructure， a private company from Zhejiang province was invited to display bamboo strong enough to build storm-drainage pipes and shock-resistant exteriors for bullet-train carriages. The Chinese state is giving generous subsidies to farmers. The annual value of the bamboo industry has grown 500-fold since 1981， to $32bn; in three years China plans to boost this to $48bn， and to have 10m employed.

Technology is also changing things. Bamboo is finding its way into a range of new plywoods and plastics. Bamboo powder， produced during manufacturing， has mainly been used to fuel factories. Now it is being combined with resins to make new materials. Leftover plastics recycled from air-conditioning and suitcase factories are mixed with bamboo powder to make outdoor decking for the likes of Verdee4， a fashionable bamboo-flooring and homeware store in Hong Kong.

Taohuajiang5， one of a handful of big companies in the industry， wants to get more high-tech. Based in Hunan province， Taohuajiang was listed in June 2016 on the NEEQ6， a Chinese startup exchange. Its net profit， of 4.6m yuan （$700，000） in 2016， came mainly from selling bamboo flooring and beams. Recently it patented a carbonization process， done through successive heatings， that ensures bamboo cannot corrode. Peng Jian of Taohuajiang is confident that the “magic grass” could end up replacing steel， timber and plastic （though as yet his new eco-friendly material is two-and-a-half times the price of steel， too heavy to substitute for wood in furniture and cannot be bent like plastic）.

Mr Peng’s bamboo composites have， however， been used in everything from railway sleepers to manhole covers. BMW and Lexus， both carmakers， are among his traders’ clients， as they consider replacing plastic and wood in car interiors. A German marine-flooring firm wants to apply his bamboo composites to cruise decks. A Canadian company in the space industry is using them in its telescopes.

Other bits of the bamboo industry face harder times. As scaffolding， it has been phased out in much of China’s mainland as a potential safety and fire hazard. Hong Kong still lashes together about 5m bamboo poles a year at its construction sites. They are three times quicker to erect than steel rods and cost a fraction of the price. But the number of workmen trained on bamboo is dwindling. At WLS Holdings7， among the oldest bamboo-scaffolding firms on this island， losses have grown. The firm’s problems go deeper than bamboo， but its fading fortunes capture something. As one part of the industry wilts， another looks about to shoot up.

从气候湿润的长江三角洲扇形散开，向南绵延，及至南岭山麓，中国有一片片翠绿的竹林，枝繁叶茂，面积愈600万公顷，占世界竹资源储量的五分之一。大熊猫啃食鲜嫩无比的竹笋。中国每年用竹枝生产大约400亿双一次性竹筷，以满足一日三餐之用。甚至在香港奢华至极的地方，在建的摩天大楼还通常不使用钢管脚手架，而以竹制品代之。竹子的历史同样多彩多姿。纸张问世之前，中国人用竹简书写，用竹管灌溉，后来又给竹管填满火药，用以点燃火枪。

竹子尽管价值大、储量丰，但却是“被中国人遗忘的植物”，香港专家谭天放如是说。为了说明竹子的潜能，谭先生招呼访客时，会递上一罐竹沥，呈上一张竹制名片，然后会请客人落座桌边的竹椅。谭先生说，竹子应是“绿色黄金”。它是世界上长得最快的一种植物，一天可长1米，不到10年便可采伐，比最幼嫩的树苗长至成熟少用了一半的时间。竹子的抗拉强度高于软钢，耐压缩强度是混凝土的两倍，况且生长期几乎不需要浇灌、杀虫或施肥。

然而，竹子砍伐之末，便是辛劳之始。虽然竹子茂盛的地方雾气缭绕，雨水充沛，但要让竹制品耐光又耐湿，就少不了大量的处理，因为未经处理的竹制品仍含有糖分和水分。为了避免白蚁和腐化，还要给竹制品上漆、涂树脂、打蜡、漂白、做防腐处理，等等。谭先生说，这样一来，竹制品加工一直费时费工，简单粗放，规模不大。竹厂若隐若现于竹林之间，利润很薄。牙签、火柴棍、卫生香、竹席和竹篮依旧是最常见的产品类型。把“穷人的木材”卖给中国人并不容易。嵊州是中国东部浙江省最富庶的地方之一，當地大约95%的竹制工艺品出口海外。

不过，竹材的前景在持续改观，其中一个原因是环保意识。就层压竹地板而言，中国公司占国际出口市场的90%。由于西方消费者追求绿色，竹地板的吸引力有增无已。2016年，相关工厂批量生产了1.16亿平方米的竹地板。国际竹藤组织是总部设在北京的政府间机构，该组织认为，竹子可再生，而且低碳，是塑料和木材的替代品，已是“中国力求环境领导力的一部分”。竹子释放大量氧气，碳吸收量是某些树种的4倍。自2012年开始，中国公司可以通过购买竹园碳权（碳信用额）来抵消碳排放量。

围绕习近平主席提出的“一带一路”倡议以改善基础设施这一主题，举办了一次论坛。浙江省的一家民营公司应邀展示一种竹子，其强度之大可用于制造排涝管道和动车车厢的防震外壳。中国政府向农民提供高额补贴。竹业年产值自1981年迄今增长了500倍，达320亿美元;未来3年，中国计划将这一产值扩大到480亿美元，从业就业1000万人。

科技也在改变一切。竹子正在一系列新胶合板和塑料中寻求新的用场。加工过程产生的竹粉，一直以来主要用作工厂的燃料。当下，竹粉和树脂相合成，可制成新材料。从空调和手提箱厂回收的废旧塑料与竹粉混合，可为沃迪这类公司生产户外铺面地板。沃迪是香港的一家时尚竹地板和家庭用品商店。

桃花江是竹业为数不多的几家大公司之一，希望日益走向高技术化。位于湖南省的桃花江公司于2016年6月在中国“新三板”交易所全国中小企业股份转让系统挂牌上市。2016年，净利润达460万元（70万美元），主要来自竹地板和竹梁的销售收入。新近，桃花江取得一项碳化工艺专利，通过连续加热，以确保竹子不被腐蚀。桃花江公司的彭建自信地认为，竹子这一“神奇植物”最终会替代钢材、木材和塑料（尽管目前，这种生态友好型新材料的价格是钢材的2.5倍，而且质量过大，尚无法替代家具木材，其弯曲度也不及塑料）。

然而，彭先生的竹复合材料用途广泛，从轨枕到井盖，不一而足。宝马和雷克萨斯两个汽车制造商考虑用其替代汽车内饰的塑料和木料，因而都在彭先生的交易客户之列。德国的一家船舶地板公司计划将彭先生的竹复合材料用于游轮甲板。加拿大的一家航天工业公司的望远镜也用上了竹复合材料。

竹业的其他部分却面临更为艰难的时期。作为脚手架材料，竹子存在安全和火灾隐患，中国内地大部分地区已将其逐步淘汰。而香港的建筑工地每年仍捆扎约500万根竹竿。竹竿搭建的速度比钢条快3倍，价格也比钢条便宜得多。但是，受过训练的竹材工人数不断减少。作为香港岛生产竹制脚手架的老字号公司之一的汇隆控股有限公司，亏损面业已扩大。该公司的问题远不止竹子那么简单，但其日益衰退的命运也说明一些问题。随着该行业的一部分萎缩，另一部分可望迅速崛起。

（译者单位：广外高级翻译学院）