In the early morning, the mountain breeze wrapped in bamboo fragrance swept over the white bamboo forest. Xu Jiahui, the national inheritor of Liangping woodblock New Year paintings, and Jiang Jiwen, a handmade papermaker, walked into the mountains and wielded their knives to cut down the first batch of tender bamboo this year. These bamboo materials soaked in mountain springs will become "binary paper" after 4 months of fermentation, carrying Liangping woodblock New Year paintings to the north and south. Liangping, Chongqing, known as the "hometown of Chinese longevity bamboo", has 350000 acres of bamboo sea. With the ever-changing bamboo, Liangping also writes the legendary story of intangible cultural heritage going global. Intangible cultural heritage goes abroad, bamboo and paper dance together in Eastern aesthetics. Without 'binary paper', there would be no true Liangping woodblock New Year paintings. ”In the studio, Xu Jiahui gently stroked the earthy yellow paper and sighed. At the beginning of exploring the production of woodblock New Year paintings, I always felt a sense of relief. ”Xu Jiahui found that the "binary paper" paper has rough patterns and a simple and warm earthy yellow color. Combined with the colors and content printed on New Year's paintings, it has a unique charm. However, there is no one producing it locally anymore, and it is difficult to restore the ancient meaning by trying to replace paper. After many twists and turns, Xu Jiahui found Jiang Jiwen, who runs a handmade paper workshop in the local area. The two of them spent several months repeatedly pounding, pounding, steaming, and finally successfully restored the "binary paper". With this' dance of bamboo and paper ', Xu Jiahui's Liangping woodblock New Year paintings embarked on a global journey. For more than ten years, his New Year pictures have been exhibited in more than ten countries, including Britain, Italy and Türkiye. "Our door god paintings are particularly popular, because the oval powder blusher treatment on the face makes the gods change their dignified image, become lively and cheerful, and the color of the New Year pictures printed with traditional techniques has not faded for a century. ”Xu Jiahui smiled and said that every time the exhibition is withdrawn, the organizers have to ask if the exhibits can be sold. Bamboo powder global, turning scraps into green hot selling products. Recently, Cao Bingyan's phone has been ringing non-stop. The new factory located in Liangping High tech Zone has not yet been put into use, and foreign trade orders are pouring in. A batch of bamboo products produced by the old factory will soon be sent to more than 20 countries and regions including Japan, South Korea, and the European Union. In 2024, the output value of Cao Bingyan's bamboo stick factory was only 4 million yuan, while this year's annual output value is expected to reach 20 million yuan. All of this stems from the use of independently developed bamboo powder processing equipment. The processing of bamboo sticks involves multiple processes such as breaking bamboo, cutting materials, punching strips, slicing, drawing, polishing, sharpening, and screening. The utilization rate of bamboo in the entire process is only 18% to 20%, and the remaining bamboo nodes, bamboo slices, etc. become waste. ”Cao Bingyan feels very sorry about the waste of raw materials. Aiming at the trend of using bamboo instead of plastic, Cao Bingyan came up with the idea of turning "scraps" into plastic substitutes, but searched the internet and couldn't find any information about bamboo powder processing equipment. Since we can't buy it, we'll make it ourselves! ”Cao Bingyan and his fellow villagers established a company and carried out technological breakthroughs in a simple factory building in Shaogou Village. Over six years, they spent more than 20 million yuan to finally develop a fully automatic bamboo powder production line. The utilization rate of each bamboo reaches 100%, and the disposable tableware products made without adding plastic can achieve complete degradation. ”What makes Cao Bingyan proud is that the scraps that used to sell at a low price for less than 100 yuan per ton have now become disposable tableware worth 16000 yuan per ton, selling well overseas. The bamboo sea generates gold, and the intangible cultural heritage products and processed bamboo products made from Liangping bamboo, from selling gypsum to "selling scenery," have gone global. The bamboo sea scenery in Zhushan Town's Hunting God Village also attracts tourists from home and abroad. In mid May, Xue Ming, an international student from Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, walked into the Hunting God Village and enjoyed bamboo mushroom hotpot while sharing photos of the beautiful scenery and delicious food with friends from afar, attracting a lot of attention. In the past, we 'ate the mines'. There were more than 50 gypsum mines, white ash kilns, coal mines, paper mills, etc. in the village, and the environment was damaged. Even the orange trees did not bear fruit. ”Chen Zongshou, Secretary of the Hunting God Village Party Branch, recalled. Is sacrificing green mountains and clear waters for economic development worth it or not? The Hunting God Village has learned from the pain and is determined to restore green mountains and clear waters. Through systematic governance and ecological restoration, the Hunting God Village has gradually restored its harmonious and symbiotic natural appearance, receiving over one million visitors from home and abroad every year. Villager Ai Wensheng opened a bamboo family music shop. While frying bamboo shoots, he smiled and said, "Now using bamboo to welcome guests has doubled our income!" From intangible cultural heritage to "using bamboo instead of plastic", from the rebirth of mining areas to the creation of gold in the bamboo sea, Liang Ping truly succeeded in breaking into the world with just one bamboo stick. (New Society)