The Lahu originated from the ancient Qiang people around Gansu and Qinghai, and lived a nomadic life in the early days. Later, they gradually moved south and eventually settled in the Lancang River basin. This ethnic group is mainly distributed in two areas, Pu'er and Lincang, on both sides of the Lancang River. 78% of them are distributed west of the Lancang River, from Lincang and Gengma in the north to Menglian in Lancang in the south.
The Lahu people eat rice as their staple food, followed by corn, potatoes, beans, buckwheat and so on. They eat three meals a day, which is reduced to two meals during the grain shortage season. Every morning, they get up and pound the rice and cook it now. Rice is cooked in earthen pots or wooden cauldrons. Vegetables include turnips, greens, melons, beans, and chili peppers. They like to use chicken or other ingredients to make thin rice with rice or bulgur, and there are various kinds of thin rice such as melon, vegetables, mushrooms, blood, meat, etc., of which the thin rice with chicken is the best. No matter adults and children, are accustomed to drinking mountain spring water.