Abstract: Sympodial bamboo is an important bamboo resource in China. Three sympodial bamboo plantations (Dendrocalamus farinosus, Bambusa pervariabilis × Dendrocalamopsis daii, and Bambusa rigida) planted in Southern Sichuan province were studied. Four pairs bamboo buds which located at stem basal were named at first bud, second bud, third bud and fourth bud from bottom to top in sequence, bamboo shooting and growth of four pairs bamboo buds were surveyed. The survival rate of bamboo shoots, shooting rate and relative growth rate of mother bamboos with different ages and buds location were calculated respectively. The result showed that the reproductive capacity decreased rapidly with increasing age, one-year-old mother bamboo had the best reproductive capability, but decreased quickly in the second year, and the mother bamboo almost lost reproductive capacity in the third year. For different bamboo buds locations, the shooting rate and survival rate of bamboo shoots were in the order of second bud＞first bud＞third bud＞fourth bud, the first and the second buds were significantly higher than the third and the fourth buds. The result of analyzing the effect of age of mother bamboo and bud location on the ability of bamboo shooting showed the germination ability of the first and the second buds at one-year-old mother bamboo were the optimal. By sequential sample cluster analysis, the shooting period was divided into three stages: initial, abundant and final stage. The number of shoots at the initial shooting stage was few, but the survival rate of bamboo shoots was very high, the abundant and final stage showed the opposite situation. Germination age and shooting time of bamboo buds were related with the buds locations, the germination age and shooting time of the first and the second bamboo buds located in middle and lower location were earlier than that of the third and the fourth bamboo buds. Based on their study, the authors proposed some suggestions for tending, intermediate cutting, fertilization and shooting control.