N 51     Continuation of Bamboo Artisan 

 

  The monk is not young. He may be about 70 years of age by now. He is a “ Lu “ man ( a tribe of Shan ) from the Shan –Thai border. He is aiming to weave 108 Buddha images .( The number 108 being a sacred number for Buddhists. )Out of this number he had finished over 70. He goes wherever people want to make a Buddha image, not asking for a price for weaving it , but accept what is offered to him only.

      

On hearing about this monk my mind started to wander. I asked what about weaving other things such as what people regard as art objects like the bamboo objects they make in Merng Naung . We are a people who doesn’t have much art skills. She said he can easily make them , even his assistants can do so. His assistants are also priests like him. I thought then he should pass his skills , his craftsmanship to the young generation. So they would not become extinct. She told me that he is ready to teach whoever wants to learn from him.

     Bamboo works are a  kind of craft the Shan people can master.Shan people don’t have much distinctive creation in art and craft. As I have mentioned above there is the bamboo weaving of Merng Naung, where they make objects like rice  or trinkets containers, and hats and khamouks for women. But the handiworks are crude and there are no new creations. There is the earthern ware of Merng Kaing. which are not much in use now. I don’t know if  the ironware of Som Taung , Kengtung which was mentioned in “Quiet Skies on Salween “ thriving or not. But I don’t think I will be wrong for what I said about we don’t have much skills in art and craft.

    

     

  But what the monk is doing can be called a work of art beside meritorious deed. He is a craftsman , an artisan. Young people from our creation lacking land should learn from him ,should take advantage of his skills and based on this skills should enhance this form of art and craft. If this craft flourish the livelihood of the Shan people will be better and they may contribute to the few craftsmanship that the Shan people already have.        

     

N50      Bamboo Artisan

There is a wide variety of bamboos in our country. And they are also plentiful  and grow well in most parts of our country. So people learned how to use bamboo from long ago. In fact it can be said to be the most basic material for people to use in our country.

    

  The most important use of bamboo is making houses, mostly in rural areas. Everything from the pole to the roof can be made with bamboo. And then people uses bamboo to make their everyday needs. Things that are needed to use in agriculture works, in kitchens, in markets and even toys for children. Tender shoots of bamboo are eaten as food called hmyit. There are stories about people who lost their way in thick forests and survive by eating bamboo shoots.

    

  So bamboo has a very important role in Myanmar people’s lives. Our forests are nearly gone now due to excessive logging. And our bamboo groves will be the next to be depleted as China is buying tender bamboo shoots and people are extracting them as much as they can, according to greediness and lack of rule of the law.  There are some people who are worried that bamboo will disappear and I have posted about it in my facebook page  written in Burmese. But I know it will not have much effect. When will our people come to their senses…..?

     

My actual aim in writing this piece is about one extraordinary use of bamboo and the man who uses it.

   

   He is not a layman but a monk. The relative who told me about him does not know his real name. They called him “  Sao Pu  “ only. She said she know him because he had made images of Lord Buddha in her village. Two of them and each about    13   feet in height.      

 To be continued…..  

      

     

N48            Tree Lover

Today I watched a documentary film on CCTV. The title is “  The Ancient Dove  Tree”. Lately I have been one of the citizens who has awareness and concerns about our  environment. So forests and trees have become one of my interests, and have been expressing my concerns about them in my blogs and facebook.This is the only thing I can do . My wishes about trees are to limit cutting and do replanting more intensively. Tree planting ceremonies in towns and cities to mark the tree planting season will not be enough . Trees need to be grown in the inner country where logging had taken place widely.

        

Another thing I have been thinking lately is to introduce new trees to our country. The documentary I watched today suits my wishes . So I want to relate about it.

     

  It is about efforts made by some people to get a plant from one place and spread it to another places. During the 19^th century a missionary who was working in China sent a picture of a tree’s leaf with its flower to a botanist in Paris. They thought that the leaf looked like the fossil of an ancient tree they found in Europe . So the tree in China should be that tree that had  become extinct in Europe. The flowers when they bloom are white in colour and looks like butterflies or doves . So they called it the Dove Tree.

To find the tree an Englishman named Ernest Wilson was sent to China. Ernest was working in a botanical garden in Kew by then. But he went to China in 1899 by ship. With the hint given to him by some missionary Ernest finally located the tree though it was not an easy work. Life in China was harsh by then but he stayed three years doing researches, collecting plants and trees and taking photos. In 1902 he returned to England with some seeds of the Dove Tree.

      

But when they planted the seeds they wouldn’t sprout. When they cut the seeds in half they found out that the outer covering was very thick that it would take 3 years for the seedling to come out. But gradually they succeeded in getting some plants to grow.

The plants later spreaded to other European countries and even to North America where  one tree can be seen  in the compound of the White House now.

     

  Ernest even went back to China another 4 times to collect plants and trees . He brought back about 1000 plants and 1000 photos.

   

   In 1954 Chinese premier Chou En Lai attended a summit in Geneva, Switzerland. He saw the tree with it’s flowers and was impressed by it and asked what tree was it/ He was told it was Dove tree and that it came from China. So Chou, when arrived back in China gave directions to look for the trees, do research on them  and spread them to other parts of the country, which they did also with some difficulties.

     

I think my wish to introduce new trees comes from my observation of nature. My mind doesn’t let anything I see pass away easily. When I see something nice I will appreciate it and when I see the opposite I have to try hard to erase it from my mind. So when I see beautiful trees I come to like them and am greedy enough to bring them to my land.

to be continued……