Bamboo scaffolding: why Hong Kong is among the last cities using centuries-old building method 

Bamboo scaffolding is still used often in my hometown Karachi, Pakistan. Since we are a relatively poor country, bamboo is very cost effective hence its commonality.

I don't think they'll ever go away due to the fact that their an easy and cheap alternative to steel. Especially for smaller projects.

Bamboo is the carbon fiber equivalent of such building materials. It is greener than anything and 100% recyclable.

We still use it in India too I believe. They used it while building the home I live in. I used to climb on top of those bamboo scaffolding, it was quite exciting and there was a nice breeze on the top during Summers.

here in Indonesia, some places still using bamboo for scaffolding, but not for skyscrapers.

"Don't worry, chinese bamboo is very strong." -Jackie Chan 😂😂

Here in Brazil the use of bamboo in construction is recent - it is not traditional - but it has increased a lot in recent decades. There are currently many courses on bamboo construction techniques.

For low scale construction, bamboo remains the go to choice for construction in Asia. But for large scale, not only the concern of safety but also efficiency since tying up thousands of bamboo stalks require lots of time and effort. I wish we could see bamboo equivalent of processed timber like CLT and GluLam because bamboo is really sustainable material.

India 🇮🇳, is one of the last too. I've seen construction companies using bamboos till date. ❤️ One of the top reasons to keep using this method is they are environment friendly, used bamboos can also be used to make other furnitures.

Seeing bamboo scaffolding brings a smile to my face. It's been a mainstay in my childhood and even though I've since moved to another country, bamboo scaffolding still holds a special place in my heart

When I first went to live in HK I found the Bamboo Scaffolding fascinating, especially when they came to prepare the little building I was living in for renovation. It was just one of many reasons I grew to love the city.

Bamboo scaffolding is iconic and immortalised in the Jackie Chan movie.

It used to be a prevalent building method in Taiwan when I was a kid. But we shifted to metal scaffolding over the years due to safety regulations. I think the reason for the phase-out was that cultivated organic material like bamboo is much harder to get consistent quality assurance compared to manufactured metal scaffolds.

I'm the bamboo seller in India and here bamboo is used for construction purposes as well as interior decorations

There are road bike using bamboo instead of fiber glass. It’s very strong and light.

That is why Hong Kong old buildings (ie Tung Lau) are kept and maintained very well... Salute to the hard-working workers!

as a person who lives in hong kong, i can say that they sometimes build bamboo scaffolding on high levels without the bamboo reaching the floor

it’s not just in Hong Kong, also in Macau!, a lot of building constructions here in Macau still use bamboo scaffolding..

Fantastic bamboo. Such a magnificent plant. I love everything that was made from bamboo.

This is a very well made and informative video, love the illustration and how every step is explained. I think HK will still use it cause this is the safest tool when there is typhoon coming up, and we all know that HK is very prone to typhoon for a long period of time per year. But there would be probably a decline in bamboo scaffolders if the pay isn’t high and the job risky… I remember when I was in Hong Kong, I was filming these scaffolders and one of them told me why would I film them? And that this is nothing special nor beautiful to see. I so disagree with him, cause this is a work of art. Not only, HK is among the last if not the last to still practice this, but this is also extremely impressive to see the scaffolders climbing up so fast and executing the work with so much strength and precision, without scare of height. Anyway, thanks SMCP for this video and making us appreciate these workers and this scraftmanship even more.

The answer is straight and simple: Cheap. Light. Durable. Cost-effective.

Not only in Hong Kong but it is also pretty much of a usual scene for the people of Bangladesh to see bamboo scaffolding

In south asian countries bamboo scaffolding is quite common from building houses to building skyscrapers I'm amazed to see you people getting surprised with this method

I remember seeing Bamboo scaffolding in Shanghai (and every other Chinese city I went to) all the time in the past few years. Didn't know they are less common now.

Its used widely in nepal for construction

I still see bamboo scaffolding here in Indonesia albeit not often, only once in awhile. My guess is old constructors still use bamboo and new one with their steel, they coexist.

Pls Ive been looking for this for a long time and finally I found u!! You're literally a life saver. It kinda took a while to download but it still worked.

Bamboo is strong, but the weakest link: thin plastc straps that tie it together - not so much.

Wish everyone a joyful and happy day!

In fact Bamboo scaffolding is still very common in China, although large building contractors do not use Bamboo scaffolding because they need standardization and efficiency, while some private construction houses, for example if you hire a small construction team to build a house for yourself, many still use Bamboo scaffolding because they are cheap and recyclable.

Well, we still use bamboo scaffolding in India. Not for high rise but for normal buildings about 3 or 4 floors tall.

Fantastic piece! Thank you!

It is still pretty common in the Philippines, like every construction you can see it except for the tall buildings

I have live in Shanghai before. Bamboo scaffolding is all over the city

I love it when videos don't answer the question they raised in the title.....

here in ph we still using bamboo as scaffolding especially in local house project. its cheap and guess what it works

nicely animated and explanation thank you

I have visited going Kong many times . I love it.. the scaffolding always amazes me.. the way the workers scale that scaffold, especially when they are building it, it a very heart-in-mouth experience for onlookers. 😱😁🌸❤️🌼♥️

Over here in Kerala they also use Bamboo for scaffolding.

Actually it’s being used everywhere in South Asia so it’s actually used by more 1,5mbillion people so calling it last in Hong Kong is pretty wild.

Your lesson helped a lot, after that i wrote my first lody. Thank you very much.

I thought this was for the whole world! Now I know😊

its so strong that it can hold shang-chi fight.

I think they do this in the Philippines, but mostly in small-scale residential projects outside big cities.

Bamboo is strong and pliant and used by many Asian countries, don’t belittle bamboo.

I still see bamboo scaffolding in the outskirt but not Jakarta, Indonesia. Maybe in the future, bamboo usage could be upgraded and diversify into better usage.

This is the best free software Ive seen. Respect.

Kawayan (Filipino) Buluh (Malay) Bambu (Indonesian)

Bamboo and wood is still used for almost every single scaffolding here in Indonesia

Thanks! This is the question i always ask myself all this while...

Bamboo looks cool!

This technique is prevailing in India since time immemorial 🙏❤️

- cheap - lightweight, doesn't burden the building much, - strong, if you consider the weight, - scalable, from house to skyscraper, round or square buildings, - it's safer Safer. - Overload It bends before fracture - visual, loud noise during fracture - hearing, easy & fast to fortified - using expert, - Fall It bends, absorb partial impact, It fracture instead of instant brake, giving chance to move to safety.

In sri lanka we also mostly used these in centuries

Appreciate the animation.

Please make a video about the green mesh they put over the bamboo scaffolding.

this was a great video

Even Jackie Chan said bamboo is very strong in rush hour 🤣

It's also being used in big cities like Mumbai in india

I really miss looking at the bamboo scaffolding in Hong Kong

yours is perfect. These are going to takes loads of ti off the learning process.

The ilustrations are really pretty

I am bamboozled that this works.

We in India have been using this system for thousands of years and still using it.

Wonderful.

Not only hongkong even now in my village in bihar (india )it is still used..

If someone managed to invent a knot gun of sort to tide the knots, it might help streamline the training process and time required on the job, attracting more people to the field.

Here in Bangladesh, some buildings have bomboos inside the concrete beam instead of steel bars.

Chris Tucker changes his mind about climbing the bamboo scaffolding after one of the henchmen fall from above, and decides to take the stairs. " Rush hour "

Oh I didn’t realise it was a “few place” specific thing. I live in HK, I’m so used to it, I don’t even bat an eye. Now that I think of it, yea all the places outside of HK I’ve been in, I’ve never seen bamboo scaffolding. Huh. Cool

I remember seeing it in Hong Kong. I haven't given it much thought but thinking about it now, it's kinnda nuts how a modern city uses such "unsafe?" building methods

This is a very interesting one. I wish they can do that in Manila for once

Bamboo scaffolding has been in use for centuries….in India…😀👍

It's used everywhere in Pakistan, where I live. A house under-construction in front of mine is using it right now. I'm pretty sure it's used widely in India and Afghanistan too.

In General, kept the old tradition alive. It the legacy of their culture, their people, generation after generation.

My father worked overseas in Indonesia... yep, bamboo scaffolding. Occasionally a workman would fall and die, the locals would say a ghost pulled him off, refuse to work a lick until a local medicine man sacrificed a goat, and work resumed. No joke. LOL

beautiful drawings

It's not because of strength of bamboo. It's because Chinese steel industry has collapsed. 😁😂🤣😅

Here in Indonesia, we still used bamboo scafolding as well for smaller buildings

appreciated my bamboo scaffolding blocks in Minecraft even more :>

WELL.. you can see in my country INDONESIA which still used BAMBOO and other Round Wood Stick ( we called DOLKEN wood ) for scaffolding... so I think there are a bunch country around Asia still using the same techniques like Hongkong

Bro the entirety of India uses bamboo scaffolds

And as many legends has said it, "Chinese bamboo is very strong"

South China Morning Post: Hong Kong is the last city to use Bamboo, Indian builders : Hold my beer

Bamboo is still very common in most asian countries but for smaller buildings not skyscrapers.

Bamboo scaffolding is still prominent in India.

I wonder if the traditional supply chain makes bamboo cheap. Once labour and farmland costs rise to a certain point as it has been doing in mainland China for the past few decades, perhaps steel (which is far more reusable) scaffolding will finally take hold in Hong Kong. The fact that bamboo can only be safely reused 3 times is telling of an obvious cost efficiency ceiling.

Nice animation

macau also using it

I love bamboo

I like how ppl here is so patronising to their country and really wanna add their country to anything. This video meant how Hong Kong still held big relevance to Bamboo Scaffolding. Is your country more saturated with bamboo scaffolding than the metal counterpart?

If Bamboos are used properly than its far better than the latters.

The video didn't answer the question it starts to enquire, it just provided pros and cons.. I was waiting

It’s cheap and reliable and found in local area.So we will see them after 10 years also.

Now I know why my past elementary teacher prefer to use bamboo stick to slap our hands everytime someone gets question wrong...

Bamboo is light, durable, and cheap.

How long is the bamboo allowed to stay up for? Is it allowed to stay up for a year if need be? or will it have deteriorated too much within just a month of use?

It's a skill I could see being usefull in countries with less resources in both energy and material. I'd export the skill to those places capable of both the growth needed for the bamboo and with a rising need for development / cheaper alternatives for building. I don't think the market for such skill is dead, I think it's just untapped.

nice video

It is more easy to build and save time. The steel one can't replace the bamboo for sure.