Sichuan Bamboo Weaving

Bamboo weaving turns a grass that grows in months into containers that outlast their makers. Chinese basketry is documented from Warring States tombs, whose woven boxes survive in lacquered splendour, and regional schools specialised by function: Sichuan's porcelain-bodied weaving sheathes ceramics in bamboo skin, Anhui and Hunan wove agricultural and household wares, and Dongyang carved-and-wove architectural fittings. Splitting is the heart of it, since a culm must be divided into strips thin enough to wrap around a teacup without snapping.

The craft modernised along two tracks. Utility baskets faded as plastics spread after the 1960s, pushing masters toward art pieces and the celebrated Qionglai-style porcelain-coated wares that hang in state gifts; meanwhile the national inventory recognised multiple lineages in 2008, including Sichuan bamboo weaving and Dongyang work. Museums now commission weavers to conserve archaeological basketry, and studios near Chengdu teach visitors to weave a strip around porcelain in an afternoon, the same skill masters spend decades refining.