Hong Kong's Famous Bamboo Scaffolding Hangs on (For Now)
10 comments
·May 24, 2025alexpotato
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".
hunglee2
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
genter
I dunno. Framing lumber is organic, yet we have systems to grade it and charts to show how strong it is (taking into account random imperfections).
contingencies
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.
lionkor
If you look at the pictures where it says "zip ties", they clearly are not zip ties. They are long strands of bamboo.
Gathering6678
“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...
samlinnfer
It doesn't say bamboo is inherently unsafe, it says due to a shortage of bamboo meeting the required standards (4 years old, 7.5cm for vertical and 9cm for horizontal supports) and construction sites using substandard bamboo as substitute have resulted in collapses in heavy weather conditions.
It's easier just to require steel than to play bamboo police.
Waterluvian
I’m curious what the failure modes are. Is it because of the bamboo or because of the way they’re fastened? Or something else.
null
Unpaywalled - https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/24/world/asia/hongkong-bambo...