A single wisp of fragrance can become a "learning" only because generation after generation wrote their experience into books and passed down their methods. Here we trace the key figures in the history of Chinese incense culture(香学) by era—from Ding Wei, who wrote the earliest extant monograph on agarwood, to Zhou Jiazhou, who achieved the great synthesis—connecting a lineage of the "Twenty-Four Sages of Incense Culture(香学)."
Before "incense culture(香学)" became a specialized discipline, incense had long entered Chinese life and knowledge.Qu YuanCompared orchid, hui, zhi, and pepper to the gentleman, founding the "fragrant herbs and beautiful woman" tradition;ShennongTasted a hundred herbs, laying the source of the common origin of incense and medicine; the Han dynasty Shennong Bencao Jing collected thirty-six aromatic medicines. On the boshan censer, the immortal mountains exhaled blue smoke—incense was linked with ritual, with immortality, and with medicine.
By the Tang, incense flourished greatly with Buddhism, medicine, and trade.Sun SimiaoThe Beiji Qianjin Yaofang extensively records aromatic medicinal formulas;JianzhenCrossing east, he brought not only Buddhist scriptures but also aromatic medicines and incense implements—and from then on the roots of Chinese incense culture(香学) also took hold across the Eastern Sea.
Ding Wei's life was mixed in praise and blame; politically he was listed in the "Biography of Treacherous Officials," but in incense culture(香学) he was an irreplaceable pioneer. During his exile in Hainan, he wroteTreatise on Heavenly Fragrance (Tianxiang Zhuan), is the earliest extant monograph on agarwood in China, and has been preserved to this day by being included in the Siku Quanshu edition of Chen's Incense Compendium (Chenshi Xiangpu).
In the text, he established a grading system for Hainan agarwood using the "Four Names and Twelve Forms," proposed the evaluation standard of fragrance being "clear in scent and lasting," and established the literati aesthetic of agarwood as "clear and lasting." Later generations—Hong Chu, Chen Jing, and Zhou Jiazhou—all cited this text. From the "Four Names and Twelve Forms" to "clear in scent and lasting," Ding Wei contributed a complete agarwood appreciation system to Chinese incense culture (香学), with an influence spanning a thousand years.
"The use of incense dates back to high antiquity. It serves to honor the gods and spirits, and can achieve purification." —Ding Wei, Treatise on Heavenly Fragrance
Personally crafted by Su Shi"Spring Message in the Snow"and other famous incense; legend has it that it took seven years of repeated adjustment to perfect. He also wrote a colophon on Huang Tingjian's "Four Incenses," allowing incense practice to mirror personal character. In his poems, letters, and writings, he used incense to express emotion and aspiration, integrating incense into daily life and literati social interaction—a model of Song dynasty literati incense practice. (Ancient formulas such as Spring Message in the Snow and Huang Taishi Qingzhen Incense are found inFamous Incense Formulas Through the Ages）
Huang Tingjian (Lu Zhi), in poetic exchange with Su Shi, left behind"Ten Virtues of Incense": moving the gods and spirits, purifying mind and body, removing impurities, awakening from sleep, becoming a companion in stillness, stealing leisure amid the dust of the world, never tiring of plenty, being satisfied with little, enduring long storage without decay, and being usable at all times without hindrance. He also advocated the doctrine of "nasal contemplation," taking the smelling of incense as a method of contemplating the mind, elevating incense from the sensory to the spiritual. (Full text seeDiscussions of Incense by Various Masters）
Hong Chu's Incense Compendium was completed in the late Northern Song (approximately during Emperor Huizong's Zhenghe to Xuanhe reigns, 1111–1125), and is the earliest extant and relatively well-preserved Northern Song work in the category of incense and medicinal materia compendia. It was first recorded by Chao Gongwu of the Southern Song in his Reading Notes from the Junzhai Study (Junzhai Dushu Zhi), which described it as "collecting incense methods ancient and modern"—Zheng Kangcheng's Han Palace Incense, the Southern Minor Sect Incense, the Zhengao Infant Incense, Lady Qi's Welcoming the Imperial Carriage Incense, and Tang dynasty Yuan Banqian's Incense—"its records being exceedingly comprehensive." Shandong University Library newly acquired a photocopy edition in 2022, showing that this thousand-year-old ancient text is still being reprinted today.
The Southern Song Chen Jing's Chen's Incense Compendium gathers the incense culture literature of eleven masters, preserving a large number of Song and earlier incense formulas, and is a more complete compendium than Hong Chu's. Ding Wei's Treatise on Heavenly Fragrance survives precisely thanks to this edition.
Zeng Zao's Incense Compendium and Later Incense Compendium supplement what Hong Chu did not include, and together with Hong Chu's Incense Compendium are known as the twin jewels of Song dynasty incense culture, further refining the recording format for incense methods.
The Ming dynasty was another peak of incense culture. Zhou Jiazhou devoted more than twenty years of effort to compilingthe Xiang Cheng (Incense Mulberry)Twenty-eight volumes, over 90,000 characters, compiling more than 600 incense formulas, it became the most complete and comprehensive masterpiece in the history of Chinese incense culture (香学). Its structure clearly presents six major sections: incense material appraisal, incense-making craftsmanship, incense anecdotes, religious incense use, overseas incense records, and incense vessel illustrations. The General Catalog of the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries comments: "For all famous incense varieties, historical facts, as well as methods of blending and appreciation, it extensively cites sources and provides complete accounts of each, and the arrangement is quite systematic. Those who read about incense matters certainly cannot find anything more detailed than this."
The pronunciation of the character "乘" in Xiang Cheng is disputed; according to the collator Riyuezhou's research, it should be read as shèng (胜), meaning "history of incense."
Prince Ning Zhu Quan's Seven Essentials of Incense Burning specifically discusses the implements and rituals of incense burning, systematically regulating everything from censers, incense, ash, and charcoal to the methods of appreciating incense, indirectly influencing later incense formula practices and incense etiquette.
Wen Zhenheng of the Ming dynasty, in Zhang Wu Zhi, discusses the elegant and vulgar choices of implements, with detailed listings of incense burners, incense boxes, and incense bottles; it is a concentrated manifestation of the Ming literati's "pure offerings" aesthetic in incense vessels (see details inIncense Vessel Records）。
Dong Shuo of the late Ming dynasty, in Fei Yan Xiang Fa, proposed the theory of "steaming incense," which does not burn with fire but extracts fragrance with steam, opening a creative approach to incense formulas that predecessors never had, pushing blended incense from "burning" to another realm of "fumigation."
Wang Yi of the Qing dynasty, in Qing Yan Lu, proposed the aesthetic principle of the "Four Nos" for appreciating incense, which profoundly influenced the evaluation criteria for incense formulas—incense is not valued for intensity but for clarity, distance, tranquility, and elegance.
The lineage of incense culture (香学) was not only transmitted within the country. In the Tang dynasty,Jianzhenon his eastward voyage, besides Buddhist scriptures and monastic rules, also brought incense medicines and implements, becoming one of the important sources of Japanese incense ceremony (kōdō). Huang Tingjian's Ten Virtues of Incense was transmitted eastward with the Zen monasteries, and Japanese incense ceremony especially values the charm of "becoming friends in tranquility, stealing leisure amidst dust." In a single censer, the Tang land used it for sacrifice and blending, while the Eastern seas used it for appreciation and enlightenment (see details inJapanese Incense Ceremony Special Page）。
From Ding Wei to Zhou Jiazhou, from the "Four Names and Twelve Forms" to the "Twenty-Eight Volumes"—the genealogy of Chinese incense culture (香学) is a history of continuously documenting, systematizing, and spiritualizing olfactory experience. Only by understanding these sages can one understand the weight of the wisp of incense in hand today.
Each of the following figures has a dedicated page; click to view their life and connection to incense culture (香学):
Tian Xiang Zhuan · Four Names and Twelve Forms
Spring Message in Snow · Incense Matters in Poetry
"Ten Virtues of Incense" · Sage of Incense
The Ancestor of "Xiangpu" (Incense Manuals)
"Xiangsheng" (Incense Compendium), 28 Volumes
"Chen's Xiangpu"
Incense for the Bedchamber
Antiphonal Poems on Incense Matters
Using Incense to Illustrate Principles
"Seven Essentials of Burning Incense"
"Non-Smoke Incense Method"
"Collection of Three Incenses"
Crossing East to Spread Incense
"Records of Plants and Trees of the South"
"Preface to the Blended Incense Formulas"
the earliest Xiangpu (Incense Manual)
Mingxiangpu (Manual of Famous Incenses)
Yunlintang Xiangpu (Incense Manual of Yunlin Hall)
Recollections of Yingmei'an
Incense Imagery in The Peony Pavilion
Incense Poetry
Incense Poetry
Incense Poetry
Incense in His Poetry
This article is compiled by Wubaiyi Agarwood. The copyright of the text and images belongs to Wubaiyi Agarwood; reproduction, excerpting, or mirroring without written authorization is prohibited. The content is compiled based on publicly available ancient texts and research from Chinese Incense Culture (香学); visitors are welcome to visit our store to appreciate incense and exchange ideas.
The following Q&A is compiled from content on this site for quick reference; the medicinal properties of incense materials are described according to traditional understanding and do not constitute medical advice.
This site has selected twenty-four sages based on their contributions to Incense Culture (香学), starting from Ding Wei's Tianxiang Zhuan (Biography of Heavenly Incense) of the Northern Song dynasty and including literati and scholars such as Su Shi, Huang Tingjian, Hong Chu, Zhou Jiazhou, and Chen Jing, each with an individual profile page.
Ding Wei's "Tianxiang Zhuan" (Biography of Heavenly Fragrance) is the earliest surviving monograph on agarwood, and the first to systematically record producing regions, categories, and evaluation criteria; later generations regard it as the foundational work of incense culture(香学).
In the late Ming dynasty, Zhou Jiazhou compiled the "Xiangcheng" (Incense Compendium) in twenty-eight volumes, gathering incense materials, incense formulas, incense vessels, and incense lore from successive dynasties; it is the great synthesis of traditional incense culture(香学).