Hong Chu: Scholar
Hong Chu (Northern Song Dynasty), one of the key figures in the history of Chinese incense culture(香学).
Hong Chu · Northern Song Dynasty
Identity:Scholar
Representative incense works / incense matters:Xiangpu (Incense Manual)
Hong Chu's Xiangpu is the earliest extant systematically complete incense manual, divided into three major parts: incense varieties, incense matters, and incense methods, compiling the origins of incense materials, allusions, and incense-making formulas. It inherits from Shen Li's lost Xiangpu and inspires Chen Jing and Zhou Jiazhou; it is a key link in the documentation of Song Dynasty incense culture(香学) and is hailed as the "ancestor of incense manuals."
and Chinese incense culture(香学)
Seen through Hong Chu, Chinese incense culture(香学) is not an isolated craft, but a process in which generations of literati and artisans continuously documented, systematized, and spiritualized olfactory experience. Only by understanding these pioneers can one understand the weight of that wisp of incense in hand today.
Representative incense formulas · incense poems · incense treatises
On IncenseXiangpu (Treatise on Incense)
Hong Chu (courtesy name Jufu)Xiangpu (Treatise on Incense)The earliest extant monograph on incense culture(香学), divided into incense types, incense lore, and incense formulas; it compiles incense names, incense lore, and ancient formulas from successive dynasties, and is the most systematic source on the origins and development of incense culture(香学) prior to the Xiangcheng.
Incense Formula ·Duke Han Wei's Rich Plum Blossom Incense
Hong ChuXiangpu (Treatise on Incense)Records Han Qi's (enfeoffed as Duke of Wei) Rich Plum Blossom Incense: agarwood, sandalwood, clove, linglingxiang, and others, blended with honey and sealed for aging; its scent resembles newly bloomed winter plum, and it ranked foremost among famous incenses of the Song dynasty.