Fragrant essence of incense, today and in the past
Zhuan incense and related utensils
Chen Zhendong, an incense enthusiast
Upon getting up in the morning, ancient Chinese burned incense to calm their minds for the start of a new day.
“Incense is the beginning of everything,” said Chen Zhendong, founder of Meng Yun Incense Library and a member of the Shanghai Collection Association.
It was also the beginning of our interview. Before we started, Chen, who was born in 1981, used a lit incense stick to burn incense powder formed in the shape of the Chinese character fu, meaning fortune. The aroma quickly permeated the room.
There were three so-called “refined arts” in ancient China: the tea ceremony, flower arrangement and the incense ceremony. A significant part of life, incense was especially popular among the aristocracy because it symbolized high social status.
In the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), nobles perfumed their clothes by burning chips of agarwood and laying clothing and even quilts on a bamboo covering over the censer.
Agarwood — a fragrant, dark resinous wood — is one of the four most valued sources of incense, along with sandalwood, ambergris and musk. It is formed in aquilaria trees when they become infected with a type of mold.
Depletion of the trees has made top-grade agarwood so scarce that it can fetch prices of up to US$100,000 a kilogram.
Incense was also associated with beauty. Ancient women are said to have mixed incense material with dai, a kind of black pigment used to paint their eyebrows.
Incense and matchmaking went hand in hand in ancient times, Chen said. In the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, before an engagement was announced, the relatives of the bride-to-be visited the man’s family to see whether the two families were equally matched in social status.
Instead of asking directly about the family background, the woman’s relatives would make their assessment by perusing things like home furnishings and even the utensils used to burn incense.
A censer, a box and a bottle are collectively called luping sanshi. Looking at their design and craftsmanship, the woman’s relatives could judge the family’s circumstances.
“The cleanliness of a censer was also important,” Chen added.
A set of cloisonne luping sanshi made in the Qing Dynasty
Chen used a lit incense stick to burn incense powder.
The Song (960-1279) and Tang (618-907) dynasties were among the heydays of the incense culture. The incense boxes and bottles used in the Ming and Qing dynasties to store powder and sticks were used to keep pomander and flowers in the Song period.
“The scent of incense would tell visitors something about the emotional state of a homeowner in ancient times,” Chen said.
“For example, if a house was filled with a floral fragrance, it meant the owners were in good humor and had good news to tell. Burning pine branches or sandalwood suggested they were preoccupied.”
The incense powder that Chen had burned upon my arrival went out.
“Twelve minutes have passed,” he informed me.
He explained that the incense, called zhuan, or seal incense, is named after zhuan shu, or seal script, an ancient style of writing Chinese characters. The pattern is exactly designed in seal script. According to Chen, zhuan incense acted as a timepiece in times of old.
The incense culture comes down from time immemorial in China, though no one can pinpoint exactly when or how incense came into the culture.
In primitive societies, ancestors burned branches and fragrant wormwood for sacrifices. The rising smoke, they believed, created a bridge between earth and heaven, connecting them with deities.
Pottery censers of the Neolithic era have been excavated from many parts of China. In 1983, a censer patterned with bamboo joints was found in a Qingpu District tomb from the Liangzhu culture (3400-2250 BC).
“Incense was functional,” Chen said. “It helped ancient people remove odors and repel insects.”
Boshanlu, or hill censer, is the iconic style of the Han Dynasty.
As the incense culture proliferated in the Han Dynasty, the craftsmanship of incense utensils greatly improved. The iconic style of that time is the boshanlu, or hill censer.
Shaped like a mountain, it represented Bo Mountain, a mythical land of immortality. The censer was supported by a pedestal base, and its cover was cast as overlapping peaks. When the incense was burning, the fragrant smoke wafted through the hollows. The summit of the “mountain” was lost in the “cloud and mist,” which truly created the sense of a wonderland.
Small and portable, ball-like censers were popular in the Song and Yuan (1271-1368) dynasties. The interior structure of the censers was similar to a gyroscope — the orientation of its axis unaffected by tilting. That way, incense powder wouldn’t spill if a person carried it while walking.
The interior structure of a ball-like censer is similar to a gyroscope.
“When I am reading a book, I burn incense, which calms me down quickly,” said Chen. “In today’s circle of incense, it is rare to see the people like me born after 1980.”
Influenced by his family, Chen was exposed to incense in 2013. He began to learn the culture from master Qiao Musen three years later.
To popularize the long history of incense, Chen and his fellow apprentices have created many interesting products, like incense bracelets and pendants, and fragrant balm. They have also revived the ancient incense ceremony.
Chen adapts incense to the four seasons. Spring incense, for example, mainly comprises peach blossoms and roses.
“I want to convey that incense, not always expensive, is closely associated with our lives,” said Chen.
