Hong Kong’s remarkable bamboo 'spidermen'

Perched on swaying bamboo poles, a trio of scaffolders in Hong Kong cling to a Tinkertoy-inspired bamboo structure.

They banter and curse, seemingly unaware of their precarious position, thirty stories above the city streets.

The team is building a bamboo sheath that wraps around the Western Harbour Centre skyscraper, extending from the ground to the base of a radio tower on the roof. The structure is made of long, slender bamboo poles tied together with nylon strips.

The workers seem unfazed by the dizzying height. “It’s nearly 11:30. Let’s break for lunch soon, cool?” one of the crew calls out.

On one side, he gazes out over the glistening waters of Victoria Harbour, while on the other, mountains draped in lush tropical foliage rise. Between them, urban canyons of sleek glass and steel skyscrapers dominate the landscape.

Other buildings in the skyline are also adorned with bamboo exo-skeletons, signs of ongoing construction projects. This is the method used to build and repair the city's tallest structures.

A time-honored technique

“Bamboo scaffolding is an art,” says Chan Siu Fan, owner of Chan’s Scaffolding Works Ltd. This technique traces its origins back thousands of years in China.

Many Asian countries continue to use this ancient method to reach the heights of modern architecture.

Bamboo is technically the largest member of the grass family. Those who work with its hollow stems swear that it is lighter, cheaper, and more flexible than the metal scaffolding commonly used in construction elsewhere.

“There’s an old Chinese saying: ‘We might be without meat at home, but we must always have bamboo,’” says Wan Chi-leung, an instructor and 'master' at a bamboo scaffolding school run by Hong Kong’s Construction Industry Council.

Mastering the bamboo

Wan observes as several of his students build a four-story scaffolding structure. Some work in nearly inverted positions as they secure new bamboo poles into place.

Since their hands are occupied with tying knots and cutting bamboo, the workers rely on their legs and feet to grip the scaffolding and keep them steady.

“I’m having them practice their footwork,” says Master Wan. “It’s a bit painful at first, but soon they’ll forget about it,”

Wan calls this technique, which involves locking an ankle around a pole, “riding the bamboo.”

One of the students working on site is Isaac Lai. He left his job as an elevator repairman, lured by the starting pay of around 700 Hong Kong dollars a day (roughly 90 US dollars).

“I’m not concerned about a lack of jobs for bamboo scaffolders,” he says.

The acrobatics students like Lai are mastering, along with modern safety equipment such as helmets and harnesses, are eventually applied at staggering heights.

Master Wan recalls reaching a record height of 80 stories on a scaffold. “From up there, I could see a sea of clouds,” he remembers.