Shixiang-the birthplace of Xiangdao culture

When it comes to the origin of incense culture, it is generally believed that incense culture originated from the ritual of the ancients thousands of years ago, but it is not. According to archaeological excavations, the "burning sacrifice" of burnt products appeared long ago, 4000-5000 years ago. Incense for daily use also appeared about 4000-5000 years ago. As the daily necessities of the ancients, the pottery fumigator of Longshan culture once appeared in the Liaohe River Basin. About 5000 years ago, the Mongolian Mongolian yurt-shaped gray pottery fumigator of Liangzhu culture was also found in the Yangtze River basin more than 4000 years ago. Its style is consistent with later generations, and its shape is beautiful, which can be called "luxury" at the end of Neolithic Age. It can be seen that incense for sacrifice and incense for life have already appeared.

?

?

Incense is also recorded very early. In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, incense has appeared in all kinds of ancient books, such as medical books, geography (plants) books, historical books, literary works (poems and songs, strange novels, etc. ), Buddhism and Taoism books, etc. It can be said that China's incense culture began in ancient times, sprouted in the pre-Qin Dynasty, first formed in the Qin and Han Dynasties, grew up in the Six Dynasties, perfected in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, flourished in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, and prevailed in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Humans have a long history of using natural spices. According to the existing historical data, China has used a lot of spice plants in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Due to geographical restrictions, the climate in Central China is warm and cool, which is not suitable for the growth of spice plants, and the types of fragrant wood used are not as diverse as those in later generations. Commonly used are Eupatorium adenophorum (non-cymbidium hybridum), vetiver (cymbidium hybridum), pepper (pepper tree), laurel (laurel tree), Xiao (Artemisia argyi), Yu (Radix Curcumae), Zhi (Radix Angelicae Dahuricae) and Citronella. At that time, there were many ways to use fragrant wood herbs for wool, such as smoking, burning (such as Artemisia argyi leaves), (fragrant bags, fragrant flowers and herbs), (boiled soup orchids), (blue paste), and boiling into wine. There are related records in The Book of Songs, Shangshu, Book of Rites, Zhou Li, Zuo Zhuan and Shan Hai Jing.

?

During the Qin and Han Dynasties, with the unification of the country and the expansion of its territory, spices produced in hot and humid areas in the south gradually entered China. With the development of the Silk Road on land and the Silk Road on the sea, many spices from Southeast Asia, South Asia and Europe were introduced to China. Agarwood, storax, chicken tongue, etc. It has become the best in the furnace of princes and nobles in the Han Dynasty. The prevalence of Taoism and the introduction of Buddhism in Han Dynasty also promoted the development of incense culture in this period to some extent.

In ancient times, there were various incense habits, such as using agarwood incense (incense clothes) before playing the emperor, and using "chicken tongue incense" when playing (the flower buds of Ding trees produced in Nanyang were used for incense). In the Han dynasty, there were also "smoking cages" that could be put directly in clothes and "incense burners" that could be covered in quilts, that is, "smoked meatballs".

?

At the beginning of a furnace, the tea is fragrant and fragrant, which helps people feel warm, elegant and calm, practice the four virtues of taste and fragrance, and "clear heart, aesthetics, inspiration and physical and mental harmony". Literati in all previous dynasties regarded fragrance as the spiritual pursuit of self-cultivation and improvement of cultural character. In the Song Dynasty, tasting incense, arranging flowers, hanging pictures and fighting tea together became the "four gossip" of literati, and even became the source and object of inspiration for literati's creation: "If you lie in the water, you will burn it, and the fragrance will disappear." For the ancients, agarwood is not only a fragrant thing, but also a wonderful thing that is pleasing to the eye, beautiful and inspiring.