Ethno-botanical Study on the Utilization of Lacquer Trees of the Nu

The lacquer tree (Toxicodendron vernicifluum) is one of the most important cash forests in Nujiang River Valley. The Nu people in the area have a long history of planting and utilizing lacquer trees. The products are indispensable to the Nu people. Nu people sell raw lacquer and also make lacquer ware with raw lacquer. Lacquer oil is the traditional cooking oil of them, for example, the traditional food Xia La must be cooked with lacquer oil. The lacquer tree trunk is used to build houses, make pig troughs, honeycombs, and the Dabiya, the most important musical instrument of the Nu people. The root, leaf and fruit of the lacquer tree could be used to make Chinese medicine. Changing Nu society is more and more obvious in Northwest Yunnan as the planting of lacquer trees and the utilization of lacquer tree products is not the same as in eras gone by. Through ethno-botanical fieldwork we could search for a way to economically develop lacquer tree products to benefit and protect traditional Nu culture.