In 999 A.D. they recorded a flowering of Chinese Mainland Bamboo. It was probably an astonishing sight, since no one alive at the time had ever seen the species flower before. The bamboo plants died, their seeds sprouted, and the forests did not flower again till 1114. After the species was imported to Japan, the Japanese recorded flowers in the early 1700s, and then again in 1844 to 1847. The flowering in the late 1960s was just the next burst of a 120-year cycle.
Phyllostachys bambusoides, a species of bamboo with a 120-year flowering cycle. Photo by Emmanuel Lattes, Alamy. Image sourced from National Geographic. Available at: https://i.natgeofe.com/n/c701f64e-551c-40d1-ab74-b6aa820cc7a6/bamboo-1200.jpg?w=1280&h=677