日韩精品久久一区二区三区_亚洲色图p_亚洲综合在线最大成人_国产中出在线观看_日韩免费_亚洲综合在线一区

Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
Culture
Home / Culture / Heritage

Making scents of history

Incense maker sniffs out an opportunity as she brings ancient aromatic recipes to life, report Ma Jingna in Lanzhou and Chen Meiling in Beijing.

By Ma Jingna and Chen Meiling | CHINA DAILY | Updated: 2021-01-27 07:51
Share
Share - WeChat

Some of the incense that Lu has made over the years displayed in various forms, from conical shapes to the more familiar incense sticks. CHINA DAILY

Lu adds that during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) there was a profession called xiangpo, where elderly women promoted using incense door to door.

Today, incense can be found in people's studies or bedrooms, used to create a calmer environment.

Incense is produced differently to perfume, air freshener and essential oils, and no chemical additives are used, according to Lu. "It's more natural, and it lingers longer, although the smell of incense is not as strong as perfume," she says. "One of my favorite sachets, made of rosin and borneol, has not changed its aroma for three years."

Recipes for Lu's ancient incense come from the book Xiangsheng (meaning "the history of incense"), written by Zhou Jiazhou during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

Known as "a dictionary of incense", the book includes the origins, characteristics, usages, recipes, related poems and articles of about 400 kinds of incense. However, there are just a few descriptions about each scent, without any mention of the related production methods.

"What I can do is to strictly obey the recipe, using all possible types of perfume and tools it mentions," she says.

The process can be long and complicated, as one type of incense may need a mixture of 15 different ingredients, many of which may have to be individually processed first.

There are strict routines to be followed. For example, Lu explains, nard (a plant) needs to be boiled with milk, then mixed with lemongrass to give it a pleasing aroma. Saffron crocus needs to be crushed by a stone mill with a little highland barley wine, while cedar seeds need to be picked in April, and boiled in water, then dried under the sunlight and soaked in yellow wine for some time, before being mixed with other elements.

The book also uses ancient methods of measurement, which makes it harder to convert them and obtain the equivalent modern amounts.

Lu also dabbles in her "laboratory", sometimes adding or excluding different elements.

"It's experimenting through repeated trial and error," she explains. "It's just impossible to succeed with just one trial."

Lu once tried 10 times to make a particular type of incense. The first time it failed to burn, the second time the scent was too strong, the third time it created too much smoke, while the fourth it was too fragile. The problems continued to plague the process through to the ninth attempt.

Patience is required, adds Lu, who, as a graduate from a military college and an army veteran, has much discipline and perseverance.

Most Popular
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
主站蜘蛛池模板: 99精品视频在线观看 | 综合精品在线 | 亚洲国产片高清在线观看 | 日产国产欧美视频一区精品 | 日本一区二区精品视频 | 午夜国产精品免费观看 | 爱操影视| 色视频在线免费观看 | 日本高清精品 | 在线观看免费黄色小视频 | 亚洲开心网| 欧美大片在线看免费观看 | 婷婷激情综合五月天 | 中文字幕第一页在线 | 亚洲一区二区免费视频 | 在线色网站 | 久久99精品视免费看 | 欧美午夜一区二区三区免费大片 | 看片在线观看 | 山岸逢花在线观看无删减 | 国产综合亚洲精品一区二 | 国产精品99久久久久久www | 国产一区二区三区免费观看 | 99ri精品| 亚洲国产精品日韩高清秒播 | jiuse在线 | 色婷婷综合网 | 欧美成人看片黄a免费看 | 亚洲国产成人九九综合 | 在线观看视频一区 | 日本高清一区二区三区不卡免费 | 黄色羞羞视频在线观看 | 欧美日韩在线免费观看 | 欧美高清在线视频一区二区 | 欧美成人精品不卡视频在线观看 | 成人天堂资源www在线 | 国产超91| 久久精品国产久精国产 | 国产视频91在线 | 天天怕夜夜怕狠狠怕 | 草草久久久 |