China approves use of Japanese wood species for housing

The China Wood Structural Design Standard will be revised in August to allow use of Japanese species of cedar, cypress and larch for post and beam construction in China. Discussion has been held for more than seven years between the Wood Export Promotion Association of Japan (WEPA) and the Housing Construction department of China for use of Japanese wood for Chinese wooden housing.

WEPA stipulates cedar, cypress and larch lumber as structural material so that they can be used to build Japanese style post and beam construction in China. With the revision, Japan now is able to export value added precut lumber for China market.

WEPA has been eagerly promoting Japanese wood for housing and built model house, held seminar and manual of wooden house building in China.

There is no accurate statistics for housing starts in China but according to WEPA’s estimate, annual starts in urban area is Chinese gives high evaluation to the Japanese style expose use of wood but for actual construction, it is necessary to train Chinese architects for design and carpenters for construction. Canada’s 2x4 housing was authorized back in 1998.