Chinese incense

Incense in China is traditionally used in a wide range of Chinese cultural activities including, religious ceremonies, ancestor veneration, traditional medicine, and in daily life. Known as xiang (Chinese: 香; pinyin: xiāng; Wade–Giles: hsiang; literally: "fragrance"), incense was used by the Chinese cultures starting from Neolithic times with it coming to greater prominence starting from the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties.

One study shows that during the Han Dynasty (206 BC – AD 220) there was increased trade and acquisitions of more fragrant foreign incense materials when local incense materials were considered "poor man's incense".

It reached its height during the Song Dynasty with its nobility enjoying incense as a popular cultural pastime, to the extent of building rooms specifically for the use of incense ceremonies.

Besides meaning "incense", the Chinese word xiang () also means "fragrance; scent; aroma; perfume; spice". The sinologist and historian Edward H. Schafer said that in medieval China:

Words meaning "censer; incense burner" are compounds of lu ( or ) "brazier; stove; furnace", which was a category of ancient Chinese bronzes. Xianglu (香爐, with "incense") means "incense burner; censer" in general. Xunlu (熏爐, with "smoke; fumigate; cure (food) with smoke", or 薰爐, with "fragrance (of plants); an aromatic grass, Eupatorium fortunei") means "small censer, esp. for fumigating or scenting clothing". Shoulu (手爐, with "hand") means "hand-held censer; handwarmer; portable charcoal stove".

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