The Mother Rubber Tree

　　Rubber is an important industrial raw material. The main rubber-producing regions in China are Hainan, Taiwan, Guangxi, Yunnan, and other provinces and autonomous regions. In Yunnan, the main production area is Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, covering over 1.3 million mu. Although Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture is not a major producing region—with just over 100,000 mu—it has made indelible historical contributions to the history of smallholder rubber planting in China.

　　In 1940, Mr. Dao Airen, the 24th-generation chieftain of the Ganya Pacification Commission in Yingjiang County, purchased 800 rubber seedlings during his trip back to China from Japan via Malaysia. He planted them on Phoenix Mountain in Xincheng Township, Yingjiang. These were the first batch of rubber trees introduced to China—two years earlier than those in Taiwan and one year earlier than those in Hainan. Due to factors such as technology, management, and war, by the time of liberation, only three of these rubber trees remained. Later, two more died, leaving only one survivor, which has since been listed as one of the key protected trees in China.