Lin Wenxi
01 · Lineage & Regional School
Lin Wenxi, Male, Han, from Fujian, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Chuantong Incense Making Craftsmanship (Ⅷ-224). The tradition is documented in Fujian. Within the regional tradition and school record of Chuantong Incense Making Craftsmanship in Fujian: The core dissemination area of Fujian incense is in southern Fujian: Daupu Town of Yongchun County, Quanzhou, is a major town for the distribution and processing of incense products, while Haicang District of Xiamen excels in incense enterprises and export; the two places together have over 600 incense enterprises and more than 100,000 practitioners, who, together with incense-shop operators, support the scale of the southern Fujian incense industry. Local incense products are sold in Hong Kong, Macao, and the Nanyang region, and the commercial networks of the qiaoxiang (overseas Chinese hometowns) provide channels for the exchange of incense materials and techniques. The craft is mainly taught within enterprises in the master-apprentice mode; the enterprises also undertake science popularization and incense-making training, spreading the climate of knowing and using incense among the people. Fujian incense is a product of the material exchange and lifestyle brought by the Maritime Silk Road. The people of southern Fujian crossed the sea to make a living, taking the incense-making craft aboard their ships and bringing back incense materials from Nanyang and overseas lands; the Quanzhou and Xiamen area has a warm, humid climate and fertile woodlands where aromatic herbs readily grow, so incense materials need not be sought far and the supply is endless. The incense trade gathered into a profession here; in Daupu, Yongchun, the Pu family has transmitted it from the Shunzhi reign of the Qing to the tenth generation, and the Xiamen area has also gone through six generations. Most incense makers were illiterate but knew incense, distinguishing good from bad by nose and palate and by the incense formulas handed down by experts; this experience-centered knowledge system spread with boatmen, pilgrims, and trading houses to the southeastern coast.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
The bearer record for Lin Wenxi is anchored in the documented technical standards of Chuantong Incense Making Craftsmanship in Fujian. Within the documented technical tradition of Chuantong Incense Making Craftsmanship in Fujian: The Fujian incense-making craft is one of the representatives of China's traditional incense-making craft, with Daupu Town of Yongchun County, Quanzhou City, and Haicang District of Xiamen City, Fujian Province, as its core dissemination areas. The Quanzhou and Xiamen areas lie in the subtropics, with a warm, humid climate and fertile woodland soils suited to the growth of various herbal medicines, providing high-quality raw materials and a suitable natural environment for incense making; together with the convenient sea, land, and air transport locally, this has laid a good foundation for the cultivation of incense materials and the development of the making craft. Fujian incense uses hundreds of aromatic natural herbal medicines from southern Fujian and from home and abroad as its main raw materials, made according to ancient methods. Its making craft includes the following processes: harvesting various natural herbal spices in season; designing incense formulas varying by person and time, selecting and blending the incense materials on the principle of 'monarch, minister, assistant, and envoy'; orderly processing, pounding, grinding, and stirring the blended spices; using pure water or, when necessary, refined honey to evenly mix the spices, then combining and extruding them into various incense products of different types; and after the incense products are shade-dried or baked, storing them in urns for cellar aging. After cellar aging for a period, the incense products have better medicinal efficacy and a fuller, more pleasant aroma. The Fujian incense-making craft is a product of the cultural fusion of the Maritime Silk Road. The total number of incense enterprises in the two places exceeds 600, and the owners, technicians, employees, and incense-shop operators number over 100,000. The Fujian traditional incense-making craft is a cultural crystallization after the collision of Eastern resources and Western techniques; it bears witness to over a thousand years of maritime Chinese-foreign cultural exchange, reflects the broad public's unremitting pursuit of physical and mental health and a fine quality of life, and holds important historical and cultural value. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Documented Process Records": Besides devoting themselves to the research, development, and production of purely natural health-preserving incense products and actively exploring and refining the incense-making process, the protecting unit and inheritors of the Fujian incense-making craft project also hold science-popularization publicity and incense-making skill training to let more people know and use incense, promoting the craft's transmission and dissemination. "Gathering in season and formulas made to the occasion": Aromatics are picked in season, since the gathering date changes their strength; a formula is then designed to occasion and person, the materials weighed as sovereign, minister, assistant and envoy, processed, crushed, ground and mixed. "Binding with clean water and ageing in jars": The blended aromatics are bound with clean water, and with refined honey when needed, kneaded and pressed into the required forms, then dried and sealed in jars, where ageing deepens the scent and steadies the medicinal action.
Documented Process Records
Besides devoting themselves to the research, development, and production of purely natural health-preserving incense products and actively exploring and refining the incense-making process, the protecting unit and inheritors of the Fujian incense-making craft project also hold science-popularization publicity and incense-making skill training to let more people know and use incense, promoting the craft's transmission and dissemination.
Gathering in season and formulas made to the occasion
Aromatics are picked in season, since the gathering date changes their strength; a formula is then designed to occasion and person, the materials weighed as sovereign, minister, assistant and envoy, processed, crushed, ground and mixed.
Binding with clean water and ageing in jars
The blended aromatics are bound with clean water, and with refined honey when needed, kneaded and pressed into the required forms, then dried and sealed in jars, where ageing deepens the scent and steadies the medicinal action.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
In 2025, Lin Wenxi was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Chuantong Incense Making Craftsmanship, with Fujian as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Chuantong Incense Making Craftsmanship in Fujian: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2021 (batch 5), with Fujian as its declared area, and Fujian Art Gallery (Fujian Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding Center) as its safeguarding unit. Since the project was inscribed in the national inventory, its declared area and safeguarding unit have carried out documentation, transmission and presentation within the national safeguarding framework. Together, the inventory record and the project archive form the public documentary basis for the bearer’s transmission practice.
04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier
Historical origin
Fujian incense is a product of the material exchange and lifestyle brought by the Maritime Silk Road. The people of southern Fujian crossed the sea to make a living, taking the incense-making craft aboard their ships and bringing back incense materials from Nanyang and overseas lands; the Quanzhou and Xiamen area has a warm, humid climate and fertile woodlands where aromatic herbs readily grow, so incense materials need not be sought far and the supply is endless. The incense trade gathered into a profession here; in Daupu, Yongchun, the Pu family has transmitted it from the Shunzhi reign of the Qing to the tenth generation, and the Xiamen area has also gone through six generations. Most incense makers were illiterate but knew incense, distinguishing good from bad by nose and palate and by the incense formulas handed down by experts; this experience-centered knowledge system spread with boatmen, pilgrims, and trading houses to the southeastern coast.
05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage
National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.
| Bearer | Declared area | Roster code | Relation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Li Shiliang | Xicheng, Beijing | 05-2901 | Other regional school |
| Huang Ou | Dongguan, Guangdong | 05-2902 | Other regional school |
| Lin Wenxi | Fujian | — | This page |
06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript. Compiled from official national representative bearer archival records and the associated project dossier, organized by topic and translated into English. 阅读中文版。