Gifts from My Hometown: Winter Bamboo Shoots

March 25, 2026

Gifts from My Hometown: Winter Bamboo Shoots

Strolling through Southern Hubei's Bamboo Forests, Seeking Winter Delicacies

The mountainous regions of Southern Hubei are rich in Moso bamboo, and the deep winter months are the prime time for digging winter bamboo shoots.

Digging for winter shoots is a skilled craft, requiring one to pinpoint shoots that haven't yet broken the soil amidst the overgrown bamboo groves. It takes years of practice and perhaps a bit of natural talent. For instance, my father isn't very good at it, while my younger uncle is a true expert.

Every year before I head back to Guangdong from my uncle's home, he takes me to the nearby mountains to dig some winter shoots to take back as local specialties. Carrying a hoe and a sack, we step into that familiar forest.

The forest remains the same, yet because it is rarely maintained, the dense bamboo groves are filled with low shrubs, weeds, and fallen leaves that nearly bury the original mountain paths. We have to push our way through. For someone like me who has lived in the city for a long time and is far removed from mountain life, this is quite a challenge and a reminder of the daily hardships faced by the villagers.

In the forest, vines and moss grow together, clinging to solid granite; dead bamboo lies across the thickets.

Wild fruits, thorny vines, and withered leaves each find their place within the sun-blocking canopy of the Moso bamboo forest.

I follow closely behind my uncle, photographing the plants, trees, bamboo, and stones along the way while collecting the winter shoots he unearths into the bag one by one.