The 2020 China International Bamboo Industry Exhibition & First Digital International Panda Festival will be held in Qingshen County of Meishan City between November 2 and 7, jointly sponsored by China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Light Industrial Products and Arts-Crafts (CCCLA) and China Bamboo Industry Association, and jointly organized by the Sichuan Forestry and Grassland Administration and Meishan Municipal People's Government. The China International Bamboo Industry Exhibition is a global exhibition and sales gala for the bamboo industry, and this year's expo will revolve around the theme "Bamboos Connect the World". During the span of the exhibition, more than 400 participants including the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) and guests from member states, officials from foreign consulates, heads of relevant state ministries and commissions, provincial and municipal leaders, guests from bamboo-producing regions nationwide, experts, scholars and exhibitors will descend on Meishan to jointly discuss the development of the bamboo industry and spark the revival of bamboo industry. The First Digital International Panda Festival will rely on the Internet to introduce and promote to people worldwide a series of important ecological, scientific, technological and cultural feats achieved in Sichuan's nature reserve establishment as represented by the Giant Panda National Park. At the opening ceremony, interviews by third-party will allow people around the globe to learn through the Internet about the living conditions of Sichuan giant pandas in the Macao Region of China and those residing abroad at places like Wakayama Adventure World in Japan, ZooParc de Beauval in France, Copenhagen Zoo in Denmark and Zoo Berlin in Germany. Books such as Gift of Nature: Discover the Original Sichuan, Sichuan Bamboo Forest Landscape and Hidden Sichuan: 88 Most Beautiful Forest and Grasslands Not to Miss will also premier at the Panda Festival. The Bamboo Expo will also host International Bamboo Product Creative Design Contest, certify products with ecological origins and giant panda-friendly features, announce declaration for the founding of the China Bamboo Industry High-quality Development Alliance, hold the China Bamboo Industry Summit and Bamboo Industry Matchmaking Conference, and organize a myriad of other activities such as bamboo-weaving performance and the online and offline exhibitions of products. Bamboo product exhibition and sales constitute one of the major components of the Bamboo Expo, and this edition of the event will feature 300 international standard exhibition booths totaling approximately 13,000 square meters in space and featuring nearly 300 exhibitors and around a thousand buyers. Meishan is a National Forest City in western China, a crucial part of the Sichuan sector of the Giant Panda National Park, the birthplace of revered intellect Su Dongpo, and dubbed the "home of Chinese bamboo-weaving art" and "international bamboo-weaving capital". The pilot zone of the Giant Panda National Park boasts one of the world's highest biodiversity, as it is home to almost 10,000 species of rare wild fauna and flora including the giant panda, Sichuan golden snub-nosed monkey and Chinese dove tree. Among the various divisions, Meishan is often touted as the pearl of the south of the Giant Panda National Park. Bamboo is the main staple for the giant panda and Meishan is major location of bamboo resources: Qingshen County has created the country's first bamboo forest wetland park, Dongpo District's Bamboo Culture Park has opened its doors to visitors, and the naturally cool bamboo forest at Hongya is well-known as an idyllic heat escape. The long and lush Meishan bamboo is ideal for use in bamboo-weaving products. As early as in 2008, renowned French luxury brand Hermes teamed up with Qingshen bamboo-weaving, the most iconic amongst all Meishan bamboo-weaving crafts, for production of top-notch porcelain-bodied bamboo-weaving. With Chinese national geographical indication protection status, Qingshen bamboo-weaving is famed as one of the "three treasures of central Shu" alongside silk and Shu embroidery. "Meishan bamboo-weaving" is comprised of more than 3,000 types of products in 25 categories like flat bamboo-weaving, three-dimensional bamboo-weaving and porcelain-bodied bamboo-weaving, with creations on display at China Import and Export Fair, China International Import Expo, Western China International Fair, Expo 2019 Beijing and other conventions and exhibitions, and sold in over 50 regions and nations such as Europe, the U.S., Republic of Korea and Japan. Bamboo-weaving is a manifestation of the Meishan people's familiarity and proficiency with the use of the plant, and Meishan has developed four major bamboo products, i.e. bamboo-weaving, bamboo paper, "bamboo steel" (bamboo fiber material) and bamboo bucket. Meishan has 1.09 million mu of bamboo forest and its bamboo industry is valued at seven billion yuan. Characterized by green, eco-friendly and low-carbon attributes, the creative invention of bamboo fiber tissue has given rise to BABO, the leading brand in natural-colored tissue paper in China that accounts for one-fifth of the Chinese market. Apart from bamboo-weaving and bamboo paper, the Meishan people have elevated the value of bamboo to a whole new level. At Hongya of Meishan, bamboos would undergo repeated compression, drying and other procedures and turned into "bamboo steel," a high-performance material as strong and durable as glass fiber reinforced plastic capable of a wide range of applications from architectural structure component to outdoor flooring and interior doors and windows with product lifespan up to half a century. In 2019, "Meishan bamboo bucket" was showcased in all its glory at the opening ceremony of the horticultural exposition Expo 2019 Beijing, when the world witnessed Chinese and foreign leaders using bamboo buckets made in Meishan to plant "friendship oasis". Venerated Chinese intellect Su Dongpo said "rather live without meat than without bamboo," and he spent his whole life writing about bamboo, eating bamboo, painting bamboo and being accompanied by bamboo, which probably makes him one of the most ardent fans of bamboo in history. Today, in the Chinese city of Meishan, a famous historical and cultural city in the southwestern part of the country, bamboo and the giant panda have emerged as icons that attract worldwide attention. Source: China Bamboo Industry Association