It hasn't helped that the work of tapping lacquer trees is dangerous and done in the middle of the night: "Last year there were only three people still tapping lacquer trees in Puli, and this year the grand total has dropped to one," says Hsu Yi-fu, pointing to his old friend Chen Chun-fu and laughing.
而得半夜摸黑又危險的割漆工作，「去年埔里只剩三個人在割，今年我看就剩這一個了！」徐玉富指著他的老友陳春福苦笑著說。