Tianzhu Bamboo Chopsticks Making Techniques

Tianzhu bamboo chopsticks, among the top 10 Chinese chopsticks, are Hangzhou local precious intangible cultural relics, dubbed together with Zhangxiaoquan Scissors, Wangxingji Fans and West Lake Silk as “Hangzhou four treasures”.

Tianzhu bamboo chopsticks are elaborately made of indocalamus of large-leaf variety from Hangzhou Tianzhu Mountain, with colorful pyrograph. They can be classified in different ways: 9 cun (a unit of length, 1 cun equals 3.33 decimeters), 9.5 cun, 10 cun and 10.5 cun by length; coarse, medium, slender by thickness; Buddha, landscape, flowers, West Lake scenery by pyrograph; silver, bead, lead, iron and bone by the material of the chopstick head. Tianzhu bamboo chopsticks are smooth, lightweight, durable, economical, and easy to wash. 

West Lake Tianzhu bamboo chopsticks, adorned with lucky clouds and Buddha, are widely welcomed among pilgrims during temple fairs, which are said to bring good luck to families. Legend has it that in the reign of Emperor Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty, temples on Tianzhu Mountain always received large numbers of pilgrims. When they had vegetarian dishes, chopsticks were in shortage. To solve this problem, the monks cut bamboo on the mountain into short sections to make chopsticks. Those chopsticks not only had a bamboo fragrance but also resembled burning incense. So they were warmly welcomed and thought to bring luck for families. Now West Lake bamboo chopsticks are almost a must-buy souvenir for pilgrims and tourists, especially among Buddhist countries in Southeast Asia.

In 2009, it was inscribed on the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Zhejiang Province.