Chinese has a long history of incense habits, since the Western Han Dynasty Qingyuan County (belonging to the Zhongshan Kingdom) has been used in life, to the two Song Dynasties into the peak, the Ming and Qing Dynasties are widespread. Incense is used for sacrifice, worship of heaven and earth, sun and moon gods, and is also used in daily life. Qingyuan's traditional incense industry is mainly distributed in Weicun Town, Qingyuan County, and its nearby Ranzhuang Town, Yangcheng Town and other places. Elm is a habituated tree species in North China, and elm bark is the main raw material for making incense. Local farmers harvest and sell elm bark for a living, and there is even a folk song in the local area that "if you lose your father and mother, don't lose your elm bark".
Qingyuan people make use of the rich local forest waste material resources, the aromatic plants with natural fragrance are milled into powder and adhesion with elm skin powder, stirred with water into a batter block, manually kneaded, hand kneaded to make a rudimentary shape of incense strips, and handmade into balls, cakes, strips and other shapes. Qingyuan's traditional incense-making techniques have extremely high requirements for the quality of incense, from the selection of raw materials and accessories to the molding of products, through a number of pure manual processes such as preparation of materials - materials - molding - drying - packaging - cellaring. The close connection between the various links, the requirements for manual technology are extremely strict, and the relevant operators must have quite skilled and exquisite skills, so a large number of manpower fine operations are condensed in qingyuan incense products, making qingyuan incense products famous at home and abroad. Qingyuan incense industry not only inherits the tradition, but also pursues innovation, eclectic, thick accumulation, formed a rich incense culture, and created the reputation of "China's incense city".
Qingyuan traditional incense products have the characteristics of natural raw materials, unique formula, mellow aroma and refreshing and pleasant. Qingyuan incense making technology is the use of physical methods and biological technology means of natural spice extraction, according to the use of incense and the characteristics of incense, comprehensive consideration of the efficacy of incense, aroma characteristics, use of methods and other factors, the raw materials to be concocted, through the unique patented formula, the production of different types of incense. There are many kinds of incense varieties, some incense products are made according to a specific formula, using a variety of spices, have their own unique name, according to the formula can be divided into: Lingxuxiang, Lingxinxiang, Xuanhe incense, etc.; according to the appearance characteristics are divided into: original incense, incense sticks, tribute incense, pan incense, tower incense, incense balls, incense cakes, incense balls, incense pills, incense particles, incense powder, incense paste, incense soup, sachets, incense pillows, etc. The incense produced by traditional incense making techniques is delicate in quality, flammable and not collapsible, slender and flexible, light and elegant without peculiar smell, delicate and not rough in the hand, and the burning incense is long and does not break the fire.
Qingyuan's traditional incense-making skills reflect the development history of ancient incense culture and have important historical and cultural value; its craft flow condenses the crystallization of the wisdom of working people for hundreds of years, and is a handicraft that needs urgent protection; from the economic value, the incense-making industry has always been the pillar industry of Qingyuan County, of which traditional incense-making skills are indispensable. Therefore, it is of extremely far-reaching significance to the protection and development of Qingyuan's traditional incense-making skills.
In May 2021, Qingyuan's traditional incense-making skills were selected into the "Fifth Batch of National Intangible Cultural Heritage Representative Project List".
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Editor-in-charge: Yang Xiaojun