Power plant: bamboo(4)

Xu says the factory workers earn more per square meter - about 20 U.S. dollars - than the factory, which keeps about 5-10 U.S. dollars of the 60 U.S. dollars sale price after dealing with wholesalers and shipping costs.

Xu's enterprise's parent company Yoyu Bamboo exports mostly to the United States and Europe.

"The flooring is cheaper than wood, 100 percent stronger than oak and much denser," office manager Tong Wangjing says.

The company also produces traditional Chinese furniture using red bamboo and contemporary furniture for offices, homes and hotels. It employs more than 1,000 people in its five factories.

"Many people are surprised by what we make with bamboo, which would usually be made of plastic," Tong says.

Tong's career has also advanced with Anji's bamboo industry.

She earned 15,000 yuan a year at the company a decade ago, and now earns more than 100,000.

"I was a teacher but saw the bamboo industry taking off, so I switched jobs," she says.

"Here, I can learn about bamboo and move forward with its development."

She says local people have used bamboo since before she was born.

"When I was a kid, farmers made everything of bamboo - chopsticks, pot covers, furniture, baskets, farm implements, toys, floors - you name it."

Xuan recalls that even rich people had bamboo roofs because it was a matter of life and death.

"We'd get flash floods," he recalls.

"People would grab their bamboo roofs and float away, like they were rafts. If your house had shingles, you'd drown."

Anji resident Chen Yunchang was among the first Chinese to make bamboo-processing machines.

"Everything was done by hand before we industrialized in the early '90s," he says.

He still builds machines but now for his own factory, which produces blinds, matts and rugs.

Xue Qiang Products, which he founded in 2000, exports to the US, Europe, Japan and South Korea, bringing in roughly 120,000 U.S. dollars a month.

"More people are buying bamboo products as people are thinking greener," he says.

The 400 workers in his 10.67 hectares plant earn an average of 2,400 yuan a month.

Manager Chen Yanfeng says this means he can stay in his hometown.

"We don't have to become migrant workers," says the 33-year-old, who has worked at the plant for 14 years. He earns about 10,000 yuan a month and has innovated upon several machines.

His colleague, 28-year-old manager Guo Qin, agrees.

"Without the industry, I'd have to work the fields like my parents," says Guo, who earns 10,000-20,000 yuan a month.

"I can study bamboo machinery here."