(This story was originally published in May.)

（本文最初于5月发表。）

As a truckload of bamboo poles pulled into a narrow street, Daisy Pak stubbed out a cigarette, pulled a safety harness over her paint-streaked leggings and began blasting Prince from a Bluetooth speaker.

当一卡车竹竿驶入狭窄街道，黛西·白（音）掐灭香烟，将安全带绕过沾着油漆痕迹的紧身裤，开始用蓝牙音箱大声放“王子”的歌。

After maneuvering a loaded cart into an elevator, she opened a tiny window on the ninth floor and ducked out onto a narrow pipe, a bunch of zip ties sashaying behind her back like a bushy tail. She called for mid-length bamboo poles that she tied into a latticework clinging to the outside of the building.

她将满载竹竿的推车推进电梯，抵达九楼后推开一扇小窗，弯腰踏上狭窄的管道——背后一束扎带像蓬松的尾巴一样晃来晃去。她喊着要来中等长度的竹竿，将它们捆扎成格栅状结构，牢牢固定在建筑外墙。

Ms. Pak, 31, is one of the few female bamboo scaffolding workers in Hong Kong, using an ancient Chinese practice that is synonymous with the city even as its use has faded elsewhere in China. She turned to the industry for a fresh start in 2021, after a hardscrabble upbringing and falling into drug addiction and debt. There was a demand for skilled construction workers, it paid relatively well, and she had a passion for the time-honored craft. “It’s so special, to build something completely all out of bamboo,” she said.

31岁的黛西·白是香港为数不多的女性搭棚工。这种古老的中国工艺如今在中国其他地区已日渐式微，却仍是香港的标志性符号。2021年，在经历了艰辛的成长历程、染上毒瘾又深陷债务后，她投身这一行寻求新生。当时熟练建筑工人紧缺，薪资相对优厚，而她本身也对这项历史悠久的手艺非常热忱。“纯粹用竹子搭建出一样东西，这种感觉太特别了，”她说。

Traditionally, workers learn their craft by shadowing one master with knowledge passed down through generations. But Ms Pak learned any way she could, working with different bosses to broaden her skills and techniques, and overcoming taunts about her ability as a novice and her 5-foot-1 stature. While dismantling a scaffold, a colleague once tossed her poles to catch instead of passing them downward. Contractors have tried to pay her less than she was promised. Her arms and legs were constantly bruised, but she carried on.

传统上，竹棚工人需要拜师学艺，掌握代代相传的技术。但是黛西·白想尽一切办法学习：为拓宽技能与技法，她先后跟随多位老板干活；别人嘲笑她是新手，还有她只有约1米55的身高，她咬牙坚持。拆棚时，曾经有同事直接把竹竿扔给她而不是递下来；有些承包商还试图克扣承诺的薪资。她的胳膊和腿上常年带着淤青，却从未放弃。

黛西·白是香港棚架行业中为数不多的女性从业者之一。黛西·白用扎带将竹竿捆扎在杉木立柱上。

“I was born with the will to prove people wrong, to do things that they say cannot be done,” she said.

“我生来就要证明别人是错的，别人说我做不到，我偏要做到，”她说。

But the industry that helped transform her life now faces its own uncertain future. Some, like Ms. Pak, are worried after Hong Kong’s development bureau issued a memo in March requiring at least half of government projects to use metal scaffolding in an effort to gradually widen its use to keep pace with modern industry practices and improve safety.

然而，这个改变了她人生的行业如今正面临不确定的未来。今年3月，香港发展局发布备忘录，要求至少一半的政府项目使用金属棚架，旨在逐步推广现代工艺适用范围、提升安全性。这让包括黛西·白在内的从业者忧心忡忡。

The city is one of the last bastions of an art — and later industry — that was first depicted in scroll paintings from the Han dynasty around 2,000 years ago, and it has thrived in bamboo-rich regions in China. But in the past two decades, the rest of China pivoted toward metal amid an overproduction of steel.

香港是这项古老技艺——后来发展为产业——最后的阵地之一。早在约2000年前的汉代，画轴中就已出现竹棚的身影，它在中国竹子资源丰富的地区曾盛极一时。但过去20年间，随着钢铁产能过剩，中国其他地区纷纷转向金属棚架。

Lattices of bamboo poles bound together by intricate knots regularly rise across the city to build and renovate apartment blocks and commercial skyscrapers that can be dozens of stories high.

在香港，错综复杂、由绳结捆绑而成的竹棚随处可见，用于建造和翻新数十层高的公寓楼与商业大厦。

Advocates of the material, including Ms. Pak, say it is lighter and cheaper than metal to transport and carry in Hong Kong’s tight urban spaces. Builders particularly favor the material when erecting platforms that support workers who patch up building exteriors and replace old pipes and window sills.

包括黛西·白在内的竹材支持者表示，在香港拥挤的城市空间里，竹材的运输和搬运比金属更轻便、成本更低。尤其在搭建用于修补外墙、更换旧管道和窗台的作业平台时，建筑方更青睐竹棚。

The government development bureau wrote in a statement that metal scaffolds offered better fire resistance and were more rigid and durable. But it added that it had no intention to phase out bamboo scaffolds entirely, “particularly in special circumstances including limited working space on site.”

香港发展局在声明中称，金属棚架防火性能更佳，且更坚固耐用。但该局还说，并无完全淘汰竹棚架的打算，“尤其是在工地环境狭窄等特殊情况下。”

竹棚架是这座高密度都市的景观的一部分。

Tony Za, the former chairman of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers’ building division, said that a spate of industrial accidents involving bamboo structures had prompted safety concerns. Metal scaffolds are more suitable for large-scale construction projects as skyscrapers grow taller and building materials change to include more glass, Mr. Za said.

前香港工程师学会建筑分部主席谢伟正表示，一系列涉及竹结构的工业事故引发了安全担忧。随着摩天大楼越来越高，建筑材料也更多地采用玻璃，金属棚架更适合大型建设项目。

For metal scaffolding, engineers can make decisions such as how thick a pole to use and how far apart to space the ringlocks based on calculations accounting for load and extreme weather, Mr. Za said. But that cannot be done for bamboo scaffolds, because the poles do not come in uniform shapes, requiring the discretion of bamboo masters.

谢伟正解释说，对于金属棚架，工程师可根据荷载和极端天气等因素计算确定管材厚度、环锁间距等参数；但竹棚架无法做到这一点，因为竹竿形状不规则，全凭竹棚师傅的经验判断。

Ms. Pak had the foresight to get licensed to work with metal scaffolds last year, saying she already used some metal components, such as platforms. “They reinforce one another, like brothers scaling a mountain together,” she said.

颇具远见的黛西·白去年已考取金属棚架操作资质。她说自己早已在使用平台等金属构件：“它们相辅相成，就像兄弟携手登山。”

But her love for bamboo, bordering on sentimentality, has only grown. “The material is so dynamic and resilient,” she said. “It’s just like the spirit of Hong Kong.”

但她对竹子近乎感伤的热爱却愈发深厚，“这种材料充满活力且韧性十足，就像香港精神。”

Passers-by often do a double take when they watch her haul a bundle of seven-foot bamboo poles with ease.

路人常常会驻足侧目，惊讶于她能轻松扛起一捆长约二米的竹竿。

Raised by a single mother, Ms. Pak worked in a seedy nightclub for a while but moved into construction during the pandemic. The daily rate for novices was about $90 and could go up to $250 for a skilled worker.

黛西·白由单亲母亲抚养长大，一度在一家低档夜总会工作，疫情期间转行进入建筑行业。在这个行业，新手日薪约90美元（约合640元人民币），熟练工人最高可达250美元（约合1700元人民币）。

With no connections in the industry, she trawled scaffolding groups on Facebook, asking if anyone would hire a female worker. Many contractors responded out of curiosity, she said. For the first year, she stayed on the ground, passing tools and bamboo poles several times her height to more seasoned workers dangling from rooftops and balconies.

由于在业内毫无人脉，她在Facebook的棚架工人群组里四处打听，询问是否有人愿意雇佣女性工人。她说，许多承包商出于好奇回应了她。第一年，她一直在地面工作，将工具和比自己高出许多的竹竿递给悬挂在屋顶和阳台的资深工人。

She said she earned greater acceptance as she became more experienced. She amassed several qualifications in the industry, including what is nicknamed the “master license.”

她说，随着经验日渐丰富，她获得了更多认可，还考取了行业内多项资质，包括被戏称为“大师执照”的高级认证。

“I am now respected,” she said.

“现在我得到了尊重，”她说。

肯尼·李是一位资深棚架工匠，数十年来一直为宗教庆典和粤剧演出搭建戏台。

On a recent day off, she traveled to the outlying Po Toi Island to visit Kenny Lee, a veteran builder of open-air bamboo theaters outside temples used for religious celebrations and Cantonese opera performances. The technique for making such structures has been designated by the government as an intangible part of the cultural heritage.

前不久的一个休息日，她前往远离市中心的蒲台岛拜访肯尼·李（音），一位资深的露天竹戏棚搭建师傅。这种戏台用于宗教庆典和粤剧演出，搭建技艺已被政府列为非物质文化遗产。

In recent weeks, Mr. Lee and his crew of about 10 builders constructed a theater at a cliff-side temple ahead of performances marking the birthday of Tin Hau, the goddess of seafarers. With minimal direction, the builders worked in synchrony: hauling heavy wooden logs and bamboo poles, and clambering up and down the theater’s soaring rooftop. It was built upon uneven rocks; in high tide, the fir pillars slanted into the waters.

近几周来，为筹备庆祝海神“天后”诞辰的演出，肯尼·李和他的10人团队在一座悬崖边的寺庙旁搭建了一座戏台。工人们无需过多指令便配合默契：搬运沉重的原木和竹竿，在戏台高耸的屋顶上攀爬作业。戏台建在崎岖的岩石上，涨潮时，杉木支柱会斜插入水中。

“There’s joy and there’s sorrow in this work,” Mr. Lee, 57, said, recounting days when he worked through typhoons to meet deadlines, even as hurricane-force winds hurled flower pots from neighboring buildings.

“这份工作有苦也有乐，”57岁的肯尼·李说。他回忆曾有台风天为赶工期坚持作业，飓风般的狂风甚至将邻近建筑的花盆掀落。

In his heyday, Mr. Lee would build and dismantle as many as 30 bamboo theaters across the city every year. But the pandemic hit the business, and there is more profit to be made with the construction jobs that he needs to make ends meet, he said.

在鼎盛时期，肯尼·李每年要在全港搭建和拆除多达30座戏棚。但疫情重创了这个行业，如今靠建筑工程谋生才能维持生计。

游客在蒲台岛悬崖边寺庙周围的临时竹棚剧场观看粤剧演出。游客们在蒲台岛的庙宇里参加祈福仪式。

“You can’t really make money,” he said. “I do it for the gods, then for the brothers.”

“其实赚不到什么钱，我做这个，先是为神明，再是为兄弟，”他说。

Ms. Pak has ideas on how to make the industry more accessible to newcomers and the public. She has taught high school students how to build a small scaffold and is preparing to launch a YouTube channel with tutorials on basic skills, such as tying knots with zip ties.

黛西·白在考虑如何让更多新人加入这个行业，让公众了解这项工艺。她曾指导高中生搭建小型竹棚，目前正筹备开通YouTube频道，传授用扎带打结等基础技艺。

Ms. Pak bought sour plum juice on the way to the temple to give to the crew and traded stories with them. She worked up the gumption to ask Mr. Lee to hire her for his next bamboo theater project.

前往寺庙的路上，黛西·白买了酸梅汤分给工人们，还和他们交流心得。她鼓起勇气，向肯尼·李提出，希望能参与他的下一个戏棚项目。

这座临时竹制剧场建在悬崖边的寺庙周围，不过肯尼·李表示，由于土地填海工程，如今这类场地越来越少了。

“It would be a shame if the tradition dies in our hands,” she said.

“如果这项传统在我们手中消亡，那就太可惜了，”她说。