The peoples of Nujiang have used the lacquer tree for a very long time and fully appreciate its value: raw lacquer, seeds and timber are all used, and the tree is also considered highly medicinal. According to records, its leaves, buds, flowers, bark, roots, seeds and sap can all be used as medicine, with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-rheumatic, antitumour and antiviral effects (below).

The ethnic minorities of Nujiang Prefecture, Yunnan, use lacquer oil pressed from the seeds as cooking oil, a practice more than a thousand years old. Surveys show that lacquer oil is the main cooking oil of the Lisu, Nu and Derung peoples of Nujiang. It is obtained by pressing the seed coats of the fruit; because of its high melting point it is a waxy solid at room temperature and is therefore also called “lacquer wax”. Local people distinguish black and white lacquer oil (below).

Black lacquer oil is pressed from the seed coats of unripe fruits of trees growing at higher altitudes, white lacquer oil from ripe fruits of trees at lower altitudes. Local people generally consider black lacquer oil to be of higher quality, more nutritious and more effective as medicine. The concept of “food as medicine” is widespread in local health beliefs, and lacquer oil is a typical example. Lisu households usually keep lacquer oil (wax) for cooking; in particular, after childbirth women eat chicken stewed in lacquer oil (Fig. 3) to nourish the body, invigorate and replenish blood and resolve stasis and stop bleeding. Mutton stir-fried in lacquer oil until golden and then cooked in strong liquor is called “xiala”; after eating it, mothers are said to be able to work in the fields within three days and not to suffer from “yuezi disease” (postpartum ailments) even if they touch cold water.

Note: some people with allergic constitutions may react to xiala.