Now that Chinese New Year has past (happy Year of the Rooster), spring has officially begun.  

For bamboo, this means a three month rest from harvesting.  Only four year and older bamboo is harvested from certified forests, but even this bamboo is not cut during the growing season.   During this time bamboo shoots are coming out of the ground and nobody enters the forest until they are at least as high as a farmer, to prevent stepping on any new saplings. 

It's part of the key to making bamboo a renewable resource.