Burning passion

Li Shiliang selects herbs for his herbal medicinal incense. CHINA DAILY

Li Shiliang recently gave away free herbal incense made from more than 10 tons of traditional Chinese medicinal ingredients to the public, including to medical workers and police officers in Beijing.

They include 20,000 scented pendants that can be worn or burned to sterilize the air, according to traditional belief.

"These herbs help to ease the body and mind, hence increasing immunity for the public and those working at the front of the epidemic," Li says.

The 40-year-old began preparing herbs for incense making after the start of the novel coronavirus outbreak.

"Right now is an extremely busy time for us medicinal-incense makers," says Li.

"But this is our responsibility."

Li is a fifth-generation inheritor of the traditional practice and was named a national-level intangible-heritage inheritor by the State Council in 2014.

Incense use can be traced back to the pre-Qin period (c. 2100-221 BC), when it was mostly used for sacrificial ceremonies.

It was found in medical prescriptions from the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24).

In the Tang Dynasty (618-907), it was used to "sterilize" rooms, bedding and clothing, and to treat health problems.

Medicinal incense's development peaked in the Song Dynasty (960-1279), when royal families employed their own incense making departments. In the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the tradition of making scented sachets and pills in the first month of the lunar year was widely practiced to ward off various diseases.