A Study On The Ecological History Of Bamboo In Jiangnan Area Since The Song Dynasty

The interactive relationship between man and nature is an important part of environmental change. Focusing on people’s feeling and attitude toward bamboo in the historical period, this article is going to discuss the relationship between people and bamboo, including the scientific observation of bamboo, and its cultivation and utilization.This dissertation is divided into four chapters.The first chapter explores the history of bamboo distribution and ecological landscape in the south of the Yangtze River in early ancient China. With the hope to make clear what the bamboo landscape was like before the Song Dynasty, it starts by making a descriptive record of modern Jiangnan vegetative cover, because the formation of the geographical distribution of modern plant is a dynamic and historical process, if we grasp the present situation, we can rewind history better. Both agricultural developments and geographical changes affect the landscape formation and transformation a lot. Before the Song Dynasty, people in Jiangnan region mainly settled down on hilly mountains, then they went down to the low Taihu plain making full use of water resources which was due to the progress of agricultural and irrigational technology. And this is the chief reason for mountain-adaptive bamboo being transplanted to lower places.The second chapter analyzes the water-bamboo style landscape from the literary and landscape aspects. Man of letters are very close to bamboo which make them become the creator of the style which embodied both in garden and literature. This chapter focuses on the water-bamboo garden in Huzhou province interpreting the relationship between natural environment and society. Living in different geographical space, man of letters initiated ways to operate and manage their domestic resources, in order to achieve the wonderful art of classical Jiangnan bamboo sheltered gardens.The third chapter conducts the research to bamboo planting and ecological development in the ancient Jiangnan region. Firstly, it reviews the ancient knowledge of morphology and the habit of the rhizome, and exclaims that people recognized the characteristic habit mainly lied in the extension and fertility, and by using the properties of the parent bamboo transplanting, whip in the form of planting bamboo, thus changing the rural appearance. After the discussion of the parent bamboo transplanting method and planting technology both in plain and mountainous places, it goes on to investigate the understanding of bamboo plants blossom and fruit-bearing phenomenon and countermeasures, in order to reveal the fertilization technique formed in ancient time.The fourth chapter mainly discusses the bamboo varieties and bamboo shoot production in Jiangnan region in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Then further analyses the relationship between local bamboo species distribution and soil environment, and people’s preferences on the cultivated varieties. The appendix discusses the classification of cognitive style of bamboo, the bamboo classification has both scientifical and cultural aspects.