| VietNamNet Bridge - In 2003, the project on “Phu An Bamboo Ecological Museum and Botanical Reserve”, also known as Phu An Bamboo Village, was built in Binh Duong Province’s Ben Cat District.
It was a large scientific research work on Vietnamese bamboo chaired by Doctor Diep Thi My Hanh and the first and largest bamboo reserve in Vietnam as well as Southeast Asia.
The vast ecological reserve has a collection of over 300 samples of about 130 species of bamboo belonging to 17 varieties, accounting for almost 90% of bamboo varieties in Vietnam. Among them there are rare and precious varieties, such as Phyllostachys, Bambusa, Teinostachym, ivory bamboos, tripped-yellow bamboo, etc.
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Doctor My Hanh and her French friend. |
Visiting the 10-ha area, visitors can see specific bamboo varieties of each region in the country, such as big bamboos of the North or thin bamboos with a vast canopy growing on the sides of the canals in the South.
Doctor Diep Thi My Hanh said: “After receiving the Ph.D degree in environmental technique at the Paris 12 Val de Marne University in France, I always nurtured an aspiration to do something for the homeland.
Originating from my love for nature and sweet childhood memories of the village’s bamboo clusters, I made known my idea on building Phu An Bamboo Village at a meeting with people in my native village in 1999 and I received their support that helped me overcome all difficulties, particularly capital sources for the project”.
The project was put into operation under the cooperation of Binh Duong Province, France’s Rhone Alpes Region, the Pilat Natural Park of France and Ho Chi Minh City’s University of Natural Sciences, in which Rhone Alpes Region providing EUR596, 000 and Binh Duong Province providing US$1.5 billion(equivalent to 75, 000 Euro) plus 10ha of land.
Phu An Bamboo Village has produced new products made of bamboo. The local authorities and people have started the construction of an eco-tourism model, focusing on bamboo trees and bamboo products.
Phu An Bamboo Village - Vietnam travel Updates | 
