KUNMING, May 3 (Xinhua) -- Under the spring sunshine, vast stands of bamboo are shooting up in the mountains of southwest China's Yunnan Province. Hundreds of kilometers away, a batch of exquisitely packaged bamboo chairs passed customs inspection at the China-Vietnam border, bound for customers in Hanoi.
Since the first order in February this year, bamboo products from Yunnan's Daguan County, including chairs and canes, have been in high demand in Vietnam, with orders continuing.
"We believe high-quality bamboo products can cross borders and let overseas friends feel the charm of Chinese bamboo culture," said Ou Xianqin, chairperson of a local bamboo culture technology company, adding that their bamboo products are exported to Australia, Japan, the United States, Singapore and other countries, with export value reaching about 2 million yuan (approximately 275,000 U.S. dollars) over the past three years.
Daguan County, with its favorable climate and geography, is a core bamboo production area. By 2025, the county's bamboo planting area had reached 68,000 hectares, with total bamboo industry output exceeding 3.1 billion yuan.
China has the world's richest bamboo resources and is the most developed in its utilization, earning it the title of "Kingdom of Bamboo." Figures from the National Forestry and Grassland Administration show the country has nearly 8 million hectares of bamboo forests, producing 150 million tonnes of bamboo each year. The bamboo industry generates over 520 billion yuan annually, with more than 15,000 types of bamboo products available.
As China seeks to replace wood and plastic products with bamboo alternatives to reduce pollution and carbon emissions, Chinese bamboo enterprises are accelerating their global expansion, tapping overseas markets and contributing to sustainable development worldwide.
Known as the "hometown of bamboo," Anji County in east China's Zhejiang Province has about 66,700 hectares of bamboo forests and nearly 1,000 bamboo enterprises. In 2025, the county's bamboo industry output exceeded 20 billion yuan.
At Zhejiang Fenghui Bamboo and Wood Co., Ltd. in the county, a dazzling variety of bamboo tableware, packaging and lighting fixtures are displayed.
General Manager Liang Fenghui, who took over the business from his father, said the company turns bamboo trunks, branches, skin, and even scraps into daily necessities that replace plastic, offering more than 3,000 kinds of related products.
Several years ago, Liang's company developed a series of tableware from discarded bamboo shoot shells. The products later became a hit online, with the bamboo shoot shell lunchboxes alone generating over 500,000 U.S. dollars in overseas sales last year.
The company exports 70 percent of its products to markets such as the United States, Japan and European countries, achieving 185 million yuan in sales revenue in 2025.
"Don't underestimate these daily necessities that replace plastic -- they represent a huge market," said Liang.
According to the China Green Times, a forestry industrial newspaper, bamboo straws alone have an annual production capacity exceeding 1.2 billion units in the country. Bamboo tableware and lunchboxes are exported to nearly 110 countries and regions, including Japan, the Republic of Korea and the United States.
"When I took over from my father, we mostly waited for orders, satisfied with 10 percent annual growth," Liang said. "But now, it's time to expand outward." ■
