Anji Bamboo Botanic Garden

The Anji Bamboo Garden, located in Anti County, the Bamboo Home, was initiated in 1974 and jointly designed and implemented by the Research Institute of Subtropical Forestry (RISF) of the Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAF), Anji Lingfeng Forest Farm as well as Anji Forestry Bureau with partial finance support from the International Development Research Center of Canada (IDRC). Up to now, more than 300 bamboo species have been collected and successfully cultivated in this Garden, with the total area of 40 ha. Bamboo and some attached facilities, such as the bamboo museum, experiment building and green houses for growing sympodial bamboos. The garden, containing three function areas, i,e. the ornamental bamboo species area, introduction and taxonomy area, and demonstration area, is featured with plenty bamboo species and rich bamboo culture and is regarded as a large sized monopodial and amphipodial bamboo garden with multiple uses from scientific research, popular science education and forestry tourism to bamboo production.

The bamboo compendium containing over 70 bamboo species were compiled by Mr. Dai Kaizi in A. D. 265 of the Jin Dynasty, and another completed bamboo species book describing more than 300 bamboo species were detailedly written in Yuan Dynasty. But now, the existing Anti bamboo garden could be regarded as the living bamboo compendium in current days.

There is an old Chinese saying: 'seeing for oneself is a hundred times better than hearing from others'. In the garden, you have a good opportunity to enjoy diverse bamboo species, such as, moso (Phyllostachys pubescens), up to more than 10 meter high, yellow stripe bamboo (Sasa furtunei), less than half meter, broadleaf bamboo (Indocalamus teassllatus) with larger sized leaves, willowleaf bamboo (Pleioblastus gramineus) with slender leaf as a willow, tortoise shell bamboo (Phyllostachys heterocycla) with a turtle shell internode, buddha belly bamboo (Bamusa ventricosa) with buddha belly-liked swelling internodes, square bamboo (Chimonobamusa quadrangularis) with square culm, black bamboo (Phyllostachys nigra) with darkish purple culm, spot bamboo (Phyllostachys bambusoides) with brown spotted culm, and castillo bamboo (Phyllostachys heterocycla cv. Tao Kiang) with alternated yellow and green color culm--So, there is no surprise that Prof. Liese, the former chairman of IUFRO, expressed his feeling when he made a study tour to the garden: I have been to 81 bamboo growing counties, but haven't seen so many rare bamboo species planted in a block of land. You will not been disappointed while you visit the Anji Bamboo Garden.

The Bamboo Museum in front of the entrance gate of the garden, contains four exhibition rooms of Bamboo History, Bamboo Resource, Bamboo Industry as well as Bamboo Art and Handicrafts. The plenty bamboo resources, long bamboo use history and brilliant bamboo culture in the this Bamboo Culture Country, are viewed from the plenty exhibited items and detailed historical materials collected in the museum.

The Chinese Premier Li Peng, inspected the garden and museum with full zest, and signed his name with pleasure on the guest book for the memorial on 20 November, 1996.

Anji Bamboo Garden, like as a picture painted by artists, a poem written by poets, is no doubt having a strong appeal to the visitors from the world with its ultimate landscape and style.