An average tree produces only about 250 grams of raw lacquer a year. When you realize that this would fill only the smallest of milk cartons, it is easy to see why the lacquer tappers assiduously scrape every last drop of lacquer off the shells. "Lacquer sap is the blood of the lacquer tree, it has life," says Hsu lovingly.
平均一棵漆樹一年的產漆量才兩百五十公克，不過一罐小型鋁箔包而已，可知漆液得來之不易，所以割漆的人總是細心的將貝殼上的漆汁刮乾淨，一滴也不留，「漆液是漆樹的血液，它是有生命的」，徐玉富愛惜地說。