Unpaywalled - https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/24/world/asia/hongkong-bambo...

“the rest of China pivoted toward metal amid an overproduction of steel.”

So the steel is cheaper than bamboo?

The truth is: it is simply not as safe as metal. E.g. bamboo scaffolding has been outlawed in Shenzhen since 1994 [0] due to safety concerns.

[0]: https://www.sz.gov.cn/zfgb/2008/gb622/content/post_4950758.h...

bamboo scaffolding might be one of those examples of where a superior local solution gets replaced by an inferior, yet more scalable generalisable solution. Bamboo is organic, therefore non-standard, therefore harder to track, measure, quantify, maintain - everything you want to do in health and safety, organic material will frustrate. So even though it is better solution in so many ways (cheaper, lighter, flexible, green, man-portable etc) because it is non-standard it ends up being considered unsafe

    > It's China

A shame that only zipties are mentioned with no discussion of traditional rope materials. It was interesting to see the Cantonese theater discussed. There is a very active Bangkok Chinese cultural and financial support for Cantonese theater. Every year, around Chinese New Year time, numerous stages are constructed (sometimes with forecourt gates) across the city and Cantonese opera performers are flown in from mainland China. Catch it while you can.

I was in Hong Kong several years ago and saw some of the scaffolding up close.

As a former Boy Scout with a lot of experience in knots/lashing etc, I was VERY curious to see what kind of ropes, knots and lashing they use.

Turns out it's just some flat nylon ribbon and mostly a couple quick wraps and overhand knots.

Really is amazing that it all stays together. I imagine the friction between the ribbon and the wood surface of the bamboo must be high enough to be "sticky".

Related, and worthwhile for the source article:

Why Hong Kong uses bamboo scaffolding, and meet the spider-men who climb it - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42665355 - Jan 2025 (2 comments)

Bamboo Scaffolding in Hong Kong - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42820011 - Jan 2025 (3 comments)

As a former construction worker, I marveled at this when I was in Hong Kong a few years ago. We spent so much time rigging scaffolding in the US - these guys just grabbed a bunch of bamboo, some rope, and built platforms tout de suite.

I lived in Hong Kong for nearly a year and our building underwent renovation on the facade at the time.

We could open our windows and go up to the roof on the scaffolding.

Good times.

Here is a video produced by MillMILK, which is IMO one of the best Hong Kong YouTube channels. They documented how giant bamboo scaffoldings are built on the cliff. I have verified the auto translated Eng subtitles are pretty good. https://youtu.be/ndf1QcBmQiM

> Traditionally, workers learn their craft by shadowing one master with knowledge passed down through generations.

I love it when white collar people try to have perspectives on blue collar life.

> But Ms Pak learned any way she could, working with different bosses to broaden her skills and techniques, and overcoming taunts about her ability as a novice and her 5-foot-1 stature.

That's literally every construction job anywhere ever.

> “It would be a shame if the tradition dies in our hands,” she said.

There's no reason the tradition has to die. You just can't legitimately use it anymore for complex and large scale building projects. Profits are not more important than lives.

What a bizarre perspective this article puts forward.

Bamboo scaffolding is also very prevalent in Indian cities. Actually before seeing this article, I thought it was an Indian technique.

I find the single apartment scaffolding to be the most amazing. These guys turn up at the door of your 30th floor apartment with a bunch of bamboo poles and nylon strips and a couple of hours lated the entire side of the apartment is scafolded, like a spider's nest hanging off the side of the building.

To begin, one guy hangs out the window, drills a few holes in the outer concrete wall, and bolts a piece of L shaped steel to support the initial bamboo "floor". After that he's outside balancing on the first piece while he drills more and extends along the wall. Someone on the feeds the poles through the window.

He usually has a rope attached to a waist harness, which is initially held by someone inside, and then clipped to the braces outside... most of the time.

The whole thing is amazing to watch.

It's necessary every time you need to service something outside, like replacing or repairing aircon.

Former Australia scaffolder here: The bamboo scaffold is used to hold people mainly and to act as fall protection not support weights like steel scaffold (i.e They won't be storing I-Beams on it temporarily or shifting wheel barrows full of cement). Weight difference in people. When I was scaffolding in Australia, I was 70Kg and 178cm tall. I was working with people who were 100-120kg+, Those people would have been carrying 4-5 steel boards about 80-100kgs on their shoulder, I was carrying 3-4 steel boards 60-80kgs. Light duty scaffold, is 2 boards wide (450mm) and 3m long bays. I could pass another person my weight, but some one who is 100-120Kg+ I would struggle on scaffold. Most of it is build at heavy duty steel which is 5 boards wide + 2 board hop ups and 2.4m long (Standards say it should be 1.8m long). After 45M high, scaffold has to restart again and they use I beams inside the buildings and U heads under the screw jacks before they start building again. I prefer buildings 4 storeys high (1 ground + 3 levels), that is you get the sun in the winter and if the shit hits the fan even if you jump from that high you may break bones but you should still be able to live depending on what you land on.

Grew up in HK. In typhoon season the bamboo scaffolding has a little give and flex that metal scaffolding doesn’t, and you’d be glad for that.

I was told a decade ago that bamboo is less likely than steel (or other metals) to resonate drilling/machine use on the other side of a beam such that it causes another person’s hand to spasm and lose grip. Is there any truth to this

Those giant building-sized curtains with bamboo scaffolds look like a building fire's wet dream