Innovative Materials from Bamboo Are Helping a New Industry to Sprout創(chuàng)新竹材促生新興產(chǎn)業(yè)

賀光榮

Bamboo is versatile， environmental-friendly and， with support from China’s government， increasingly high-tech.竹子用途廣泛，有利環(huán)保，在中國政府的支持下，日益走向高技術(shù)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.

從氣候濕潤的長江三角洲扇形散開，向南綿延，及至南嶺山麓，中國有一片片翠綠的竹林，枝繁葉茂，面積愈600萬公頃，占世界竹資源儲量的五分之一。大熊貓啃食鮮嫩無比的竹筍。中國每年用竹枝生產(chǎn)大約400億雙一次性竹筷，以滿足一日三餐之用。甚至在香港奢華至極的地方，在建的摩天大樓還通常不使用鋼管腳手架，而以竹制品代之。竹子的歷史同樣多彩多姿。紙張問世之前，中國人用竹簡書寫，用竹管灌溉，后來又給竹管填滿火藥，用以點(diǎn)燃火槍。

竹子盡管價(jià)值大、儲量豐，但卻是“被中國人遺忘的植物”，香港專家譚天放如是說。為了說明竹子的潛能，譚先生招呼訪客時(shí)，會遞上一罐竹瀝，呈上一張竹制名片，然后會請客人落座桌邊的竹椅。譚先生說，竹子應(yīng)是“綠色黃金”。它是世界上長得最快的一種植物，一天可長1米，不到10年便可采伐，比最幼嫩的樹苗長至成熟少用了一半的時(shí)間。竹子的抗拉強(qiáng)度高于軟鋼，耐壓縮強(qiáng)度是混凝土的兩倍，況且生長期幾乎不需要澆灌、殺蟲或施肥。

然而，竹子砍伐之末，便是辛勞之始。雖然竹子茂盛的地方霧氣繚繞，雨水充沛，但要讓竹制品耐光又耐濕，就少不了大量的處理，因?yàn)槲唇?jīng)處理的竹制品仍含有糖分和水分。為了避免白蟻和腐化，還要給竹制品上漆、涂樹脂、打蠟、漂白、做防腐處理，等等。譚先生說，這樣一來，竹制品加工一直費(fèi)時(shí)費(fèi)工，簡單粗放，規(guī)模不大。竹廠若隱若現(xiàn)于竹林之間，利潤很薄。牙簽、火柴棍、衛(wèi)生香、竹席和竹籃依舊是最常見的產(chǎn)品類型。把“窮人的木材”賣給中國人并不容易。嵊州是中國東部浙江省最富庶的地方之一，當(dāng)?shù)卮蠹s95%的竹制工藝品出口海外。

不過，竹材的前景在持續(xù)改觀，其中一個(gè)原因是環(huán)保意識。就層壓竹地板而言，中國公司占國際出口市場的90%。由于西方消費(fèi)者追求綠色，竹地板的吸引力有增無已。2016年，相關(guān)工廠批量生產(chǎn)了1.16億平方米的竹地板。國際竹藤組織是總部設(shè)在北京的政府間機(jī)構(gòu)，該組織認(rèn)為，竹子可再生，而且低碳，是塑料和木材的替代品，已是“中國力求環(huán)境領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力的一部分”。竹子釋放大量氧氣，碳吸收量是某些樹種的4倍。自2012年開始，中國公司可以通過購買竹園碳權(quán)（碳信用額）來抵消碳排放量。

圍繞習(xí)近平主席提出的“一帶一路”倡議以改善基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施這一主題，舉辦了一次論壇。浙江省的一家民營公司應(yīng)邀展示一種竹子，其強(qiáng)度之大可用于制造排澇管道和動車車廂的防震外殼。中國政府向農(nóng)民提供高額補(bǔ)貼。竹業(yè)年產(chǎn)值自1981年迄今增長了500倍，達(dá)320億美元;未來3年，中國計(jì)劃將這一產(chǎn)值擴(kuò)大到480億美元，從業(yè)就業(yè)1000萬人。

科技也在改變一切。竹子正在一系列新膠合板和塑料中尋求新的用場。加工過程產(chǎn)生的竹粉，一直以來主要用作工廠的燃料。當(dāng)下，竹粉和樹脂相合成，可制成新材料。從空調(diào)和手提箱廠回收的廢舊塑料與竹粉混合，可為沃迪這類公司生產(chǎn)戶外鋪面地板。沃迪是香港的一家時(shí)尚竹地板和家庭用品商店。

桃花江是竹業(yè)為數(shù)不多的幾家大公司之一，希望日益走向高技術(shù)化。位于湖南省的桃花江公司于2016年6月在中國“新三板”交易所全國中小企業(yè)股份轉(zhuǎn)讓系統(tǒng)掛牌上市。2016年，凈利潤達(dá)460萬元（70萬美元），主要來自竹地板和竹梁的銷售收入。新近，桃花江取得一項(xiàng)碳化工藝專利，通過連續(xù)加熱，以確保竹子不被腐蝕。桃花江公司的彭建自信地認(rèn)為，竹子這一“神奇植物”最終會替代鋼材、木材和塑料（盡管目前，這種生態(tài)友好型新材料的價(jià)格是鋼材的2.5倍，而且質(zhì)量過大，尚無法替代家具木材，其彎曲度也不及塑料）。

然而，彭先生的竹復(fù)合材料用途廣泛，從軌枕到井蓋，不一而足。寶馬和雷克薩斯兩個(gè)汽車制造商考慮用其替代汽車內(nèi)飾的塑料和木料，因而都在彭先生的交易客戶之列。德國的一家船舶地板公司計(jì)劃將彭先生的竹復(fù)合材料用于游輪甲板。加拿大的一家航天工業(yè)公司的望遠(yuǎn)鏡也用上了竹復(fù)合材料。

竹業(yè)的其他部分卻面臨更為艱難的時(shí)期。作為腳手架材料，竹子存在安全和火災(zāi)隱患，中國內(nèi)地大部分地區(qū)已將其逐步淘汰。而香港的建筑工地每年仍捆扎約500萬根竹竿。竹竿搭建的速度比鋼條快3倍，價(jià)格也比鋼條便宜得多。但是，受過訓(xùn)練的竹材工人數(shù)不斷減少。作為香港島生產(chǎn)竹制腳手架的老字號公司之一的匯隆控股有限公司，虧損面業(yè)已擴(kuò)大。該公司的問題遠(yuǎn)不止竹子那么簡單，但其日益衰退的命運(yùn)也說明一些問題。隨著該行業(yè)的一部分萎縮，另一部分可望迅速崛起。

（譯者單位：廣外高級翻譯學(xué)院）