Intangible cultural heritage in Yantai: Handmade incense

Incense-making in Yantai, East China's Shandong province can be traced back to 2,000 years ago, according to Wang Dezheng, who makes Qingyuan incense, a local handmade incense.

According to Wang, the process of making incense is long and complex.

The first step is to select the materials. Qingyuan incense makes use of sandalwood, agilawood, catalpa bungei, and figs, which add a sweet smell to the incense.

Then grind the materials into powder and sieve the powder. The two procedures should be repeated many times to create a smooth texture.

After that, mix the different powders together, knead them into a bough, and let them sit for about an hour. Then cut a small piece from the bough and rub it into a strip.

Finally, let the strips dry and you have the famous Qingyuan incense.

In addition to line-shaped incense, there is also coil incense, cone incense and incense pellet.

Wang said that, as more people are becoming concerned about their health, he would add Chinese herbal medicine to the incense to help users sleep and provide adjuvant therapy to diabetes.