Silicon carbide nanowires have been synthesized at 1400 degrees C by carbothermic reduction of silica with bamboo carbon under normal atmosphere pressure without metallic catalyst. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy were used to characterize the silicon carbide nanowires. The results show that the silicon carbide nanowires have a core-shell structure and grow along <111> direction. The diameter of silicon carbide nanowires is about 50-200 nm and the length from tens to hundreds of micrometers. The vapor-solid mechanism is proposed to elucidate the growth process. The photoluminescence of the synthesized silicon carbide nanowires shows significant blueshifts, which is resulted from the existence of oxygen defects in amorphous layer and the special rough core-shell interface.