🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Bai

The Bai are a people living mainly in Yunnan Province in south-western China, especially around Erhai Lake and the city of Dali. Unlike most of China, the area has kept its own cheesemaking tradition for centuries.

Its main product is rushan, the “milk fan”. Cow’s milk is heated and curdled with a sour solution, without rennet; the hot mass is stretched into thin sheets and wound onto bamboo poles, where it dries. The finished rushan is fried or baked and eaten with sugar, honey or fruit sauces; it is sold as street food and brought home from Dali as a souvenir. Researchers call rushan an important part of Bai culture.

Rushan is made in several counties — for example, Weishan, Eryuan and Jianchuan — and its microflora differs noticeably from area to area. This shows that home techniques remain local and are passed down in families. Today the product is also made by small enterprises.