“Living with Bamboo” in Beijing

Students of the Xinxian Hutong Elementary School in Beijing were introduced to bamboo as a material and historical and cultural entity as they took part in the CnC’s “Living with Bamboo” programme during the autumn term of 2018. Bamboo has a long history of use in Chinese culture: from bamboo strips as a writing material dating to the Warring States period to scholar’s objects in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Like taken on a museum tour, students engaged in group discussions, drawings and creative writing to learn the ways traditional art and culture bridges with modern living and evolves into spiritual cultivation and an appreciation of the finer details. The programme also aims to use bamboo as an example to inspire students to see the extraordinary in the ordinary and facilitate an exploration of the inner self.