On January 27, entering Liancheng County Fenghai Bamboo and Wood Co., Ltd., the bamboo refined processing digital production line expansion project (Phase III) has completed the construction of Plant 1 and Plant 2 and the installation of core equipment, and the construction of Plant 3 is about to start. After this 'bamboo instead of plastic' project is fully put into production, the company's capacity will double, and the annual new output value will exceed 550 million yuan.

     A single stalk of green bamboo takes five years to mature. In Liancheng, Fujian, a land boasting 639,400 acres of bamboo forests, a vivid legend of 'turning bamboo into gold' is unfolding. From meticulous craftsmanship in workshops to a fragrant presence in global markets, from long-term ecological protection to bulging pockets for the local people, Liancheng is bringing the bamboo industry to life with a whole-industry-chain approach, enabling the unremarkable bamboo to achieve a remarkable transformation—from resource to industry, from product to brand, and from ecology to prosperity for the people.

Advanced Processing: Young Bamboo Transforms into 'Hardcore' Products

    In Pengkou Town, Liancheng County, the 'advanced processing magic' of the bamboo industry is performed daily. In the workshop of Zhujiang New Materials Co., Ltd., machines roar continuously as each bamboo undergoes more than ten meticulous processes, including drying, splining, carbonization, and glue immersion, shedding its green outer layer and transforming into flat and durable outdoor decking materials. As a national high-tech enterprise, the company focuses on light carbon and deep carbon series products, covering city furniture such as outdoor boardwalks, railings, and wall panels. Its footprint spreads across the vast land from Xinjiang to Fujian and even crosses the ocean to enter the European market, with an annual production capacity of 300,000 square meters and an output value of approximately 35 million yuan, breaking the limitations of traditional bamboo with craftsmanship.

    Fenghai Bamboo and Wood Industry Co., Ltd. is even more vibrant and bustling. In the Phase I and Phase II workshops, workers skillfully inspect, roast, trim, and polish bamboo strips before assembling them into exquisite pet houses and practical gardening products; the new factory of the Phase III project stands out particularly under the sunlight, with five modern CNC production lines rapidly being installed, soon to produce high-end bamboo home products and eco-friendly packaging materials with high added value. 'Phase III focuses on replacing plastic with bamboo, and after production, capacity will double, with an annual added output value surpassing 550 million yuan,' said Executive Vice President Xiang Chuanfeng, full of anticipation.

    The path of sophisticated processing in Liancheng also conceals the ecological wisdom of 'whole bamboo utilization.' At Jinlong Agroforestry Economic Development Co., Ltd. in Gutian Town, workers on the heavy bamboo board production line are busy and cheerful. 'Every part of the moso bamboo is valuable, and we want to use it thoroughly,' explained the company chairman Wu Shugui. Bamboo shavings, which were once discarded as waste, have now become fuel for new heating equipment through technological innovation, not only reducing sulfur emissions but also saving about 300,000 yuan in fuel costs annually.

    Liancheng County actively guides bamboo and wood enterprises to implement technological transformation and upgrading projects, eliminate backward production capacity, introduce advanced equipment and processes, promote energy conservation and consumption reduction, and improve efficiency, making the bamboo industry a highly efficient and recyclable green industry. By 2025, the county has gathered 52 bamboo and shoot processing enterprises, including 5 provincial leading enterprises, with a total bamboo industry output value of 3.507 billion yuan, and young bamboo has truly supported a large industry.

Innovation Going Global: Breaking Barriers and Venturing Worldwide

    Innovation is the secret to the everlasting prosperity of the Liancheng bamboo industry, and even more so, it is the confidence behind its venture into the international market.

    Zhujian New Materials has always adhered to the belief of 'persisting in innovation without relaxation,' winning 9 national invention patents and 6 utility model patents. The developed reconstituted bamboo material not only retains the natural beauty of bamboo but also has excellent weather resistance, successfully addressing the pain points of traditional wood being prone to deformation and decay. 'We want to transform 5-year-old bamboo into 'millennium timber,' truly achieving 'replacing trees with bamboo.' ' General Manager Yang Mingjie’s research and development blueprint is clear and resolute.

    Facing the impact of the international tariff war, Fenghai Bamboo & Wood Industry has forged a breakthrough path of 'quality and research & development.' On one hand, it upgraded ordinary anti-corrosion coatings to environmentally friendly coatings, extending the product's service life from 1 year to 3 years; on the other hand, it formed a professional team to deeply cultivate the European market, conducting market research and precise R&D, launching over 3,000 marketable products, successfully expanding its market footprint from the United States to more than 20 countries worldwide. Today, the company holds 113 intellectual property patents, including 8 invention patents, and by connecting with universities and research institutes for technological achievements, it continuously tackles new products such as bamboo-wood and bamboo substitutes, with its core competitiveness constantly strengthening.  

    The targeted support from the Liancheng government has provided strong motivation for enterprise innovation. The county established an enterprise-led industrial technology R&D and innovation mechanism, set up funds for technological innovation, and integrated science and technology project funds from all levels, specially used to reward enterprise technological transformation, new product development, and new technology application. With policy support, leading bamboo and wood processing enterprises have successively broken through R&D and production technologies in heavy bamboo, bamboo substitutes, bamboo charcoal carvings, and so on, doubling their efficiency. Today, Liancheng bamboo products have been exported to more than 20 countries including Europe, America, Japan, and South Korea, with annual export revenue reaching hundreds of millions of yuan, firmly establishing their foothold in the international market.

Ecological common prosperity: Bamboo forest becomes a 'green bank'

   The booming bamboo industry ultimately benefits the people of Liancheng. The vast bamboo forests are not only the county's 'ecological beauty ambassador,' but also a 'green bank' for increasing the income of forest farmers.

    Under the lush bamboo forest in Yudi Village, Laiyuan Township, the villagers are busy digging fresh winter bamboo shoots, which are not only seasonal delicacies on the table, but also "treasures" with bulging pockets. "This year, the weather is favorable, the harvest of winter bamboo shoots is good, the price can reach 25 yuan a catty, and a ton of moso bamboo can be sold for 750 yuan, which is much stronger than in previous years!" Villager Chen Qinghe's face was full of smiles.

    Laiyuan Township has a forest land area of more than 393,000 acres, a bamboo forest area of more than 116,000 acres, a forest coverage rate of 93.2%, an annual output of 12,000 tons of bamboo shoots, and about 62,000 tons of bamboo shoots. The township vigorously promoted the "one, two, three" industrial plan: building a demonstration plot of high-yield bamboo forests, repairing bamboo mountain roads, building sprinkler irrigation reservoirs, and hardening 6 kilometers of forest fire prevention demonstration roads, which greatly reduced farmers' production costs and transportation costs, and achieved a win-win situation for the village collective economy to generate income and increase farmers' income.

In the 200-acre bamboo forest yield demonstration piece in Fengdi Village, Quxi Township, it is full of greenery, and the technicians of the forestry station shuttle between them to guide workers to carry out ditch fertilization operations. The transformation from extensive management to precise cultivation has been realized, and standardized operations such as weeding and weeding, precise fertilization, reasonable bamboo picking, and bamboo shoot protection and forest maintenance cover the whole cycle of bamboo growth, coupled with the optimization of bamboo forest structure and the improvement of road facilities, so that the production and operation of moso bamboo have been transformed to large-scale, base-based and intensive, and the production efficiency has been significantly improved.

   The rise of the understory economy has made "bamboo gold" a reality. In Gekou Village, Juxi Town, under the bamboo forest of Fengshan Family Farm, clematis leaves are thick and rhizomes are thick, and the reticulated veins on the brown leaves are like "golden threads". "Seedlings raised in greenhouses in winter and transplanted understory imitation wild growth in spring have greatly improved survival rates and medicinal value." Luo Weiyuan, the person in charge of the farm, smiled and said that after improving the planting technology, the dried high-quality clematis can be sold for 8,000-12,000 yuan per kilogram, with an annual net income of more than one million yuan. Today, the forestry department provides technical and financial support to guide forest farmers to explore new models such as dendrobium officinale planting, Chinese herbal medicine cultivation, and understory breeding, and has built 15 key demonstration bases. In 2025, the county's understory economic operating area will reach 1.8271 million mu, with an output value of 5.279 billion yuan.

   Up to now, the county's bamboo industry has driven a total of 18,000 people to increase income, and more than 300 new jobs will be added after the third phase of the Fenghai bamboo and wood industry project is put into operation. Nowadays, more and more people in Liancheng have eaten "ecological rice", and while protecting the green waters and green mountains, they have harvested heavy "golden mountains and silver mountains".

    A single bamboo stalk connects the development threads of industrial upgrading, technological innovation, and improvement of people's livelihoods. In the future, with more intelligent production lines being implemented, more innovative products emerging, and more under-forest economic models being promoted, Liancheng's bamboo industry is bound to expand steadily on the path of high-quality development, making this shade of green the brightest backdrop of rural revitalization.