China is the earliest country to use natural lacquer in the world. Since its being introduced to Japan in the Tang Dynasty, the Ningbo lacquerware had found its place in Japan. The Shosoin Depository of Japan has quite a number of lacquerware works made in the Sui and Tang dynasties in its collection. The craft of ramie lacquerware of Ningbo influenced the Japanese Buddha statue making and furniture making to such an extent that it later developed into an art of MAKI, a national handicraft of Japan.

The influence had a two-way effect. Japanese lacquerware has also enriched the lacquerware technique of Ningbo. In the middle of the ninth century, some envoy ships from Japan brought some lacquerware as tributes to the Tang Dynasty via the port of Mingzhou (Ningbo, then the gateway to China). The mother-of-pearl lacquer, gold and silver MAKI, screens with paintings, mother-of-pearl MAKI cupboards, gilded flowers and birds, MAKI trunks and gold-traced pieces from Japan were most popular in Mingzhou. When the time elapsed into the Song Dynasty, the Japanese MAKI developed further. The technique of setting silver and gold to lacquer body made the finished product even more beautiful. It then became very popular in China and the Imperial Court sent artisans to Japan to learn it. In the Ming Dynasty, the Japanese envoy ships brought their lacquer screens and gold traced products to Ningbo and took back to Japan Ningbo's lacquer carvings, plates, tables, gold-traced pieces and carved lacquerware. Legend has it that the fine gold lacquerware of Ningbo was developed according to Japanese style. The exchanges between Ningbo and Japan in terms of the lacquer craft resulted in the improvement of the technique on both sides.

Today, lacquerware has been an important export of the city. The products include screens, stools, tea tables, fruit trays, TV closets, cupboards, bookcases and writing tables, etc, all with carvings vivid, colorful and elegant.