Beautiful Plants For Your Interior
What: History & Craft
Incense Bark Paper (Xiangpi Zhi) is not a modern invention but a lost paper type rediscovered in ancient incense literature. During the compilation of the Chinese Incense Literature Collection(《中国香文献集成》), researchers found cross-references in historical incense texts and paper manuals describing a paper made from aromatic bark with herbal infusion—where papermaking and incense culture met.
The revival was initiated by Sun Liang, director of the China Incense Culture Research Center, developed with Wuying Zaoban Museum, led by traditional papermaking expert Long Wen, and hand-couched by intangible heritage inheritor Wang Yujue. The first batch of 1,000 sheets was completed within two months; each sheet received a creative achievement certification from the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA). Every sheet is pure-handmade, infused with an herbal formula, bears a unique grain, and carries a subtle natural scent. It is placed as a frontispiece in Volume 1 of each set of the Collection—paper as vessel, letting a millennium of scent become tangible.
📜 Literary echo: The Jin dynasty already knew “Mixing Paper” (mixiang zhi蜜香纸)—Emperor Wu of Jin granted Du Yu “ten thousand sheets of Mixing Paper,” made from agarwood bark, an early ancestor of Incense Bark Paper.
Why: Double Cultural Heritage
- Craft value: fusing two intangible heritages—ancient papermaking + traditional incense blending.
- Spirit value: a model of contemporary artisan restoration, from Sun Liang’s proposal to Wang Yujue’s couching.
- Sensory value: visual (natural grain) × olfactory (herbal scent)—static paper gains “incense-meditation” quality.
Who: For Whom
- Intangible heritage & papercraft researchers
- Collectors of antique books, scholarly studio objects
- Cultural-creative developers
- Incense practitioners & chanoyu / scholar’s table aesthetes
How: Experience & Use
- Liu-gen paper tasting: borrow the incense “six senses” method—observe grain, smell scent, touch texture—a seated mini incense practice.
- Daily use: bookmarks, letter sheets, tea-table inserts, scholar’s desk layers.
- Craft study: trace the full cycle—bark selection → steaming & pulping → herbal infusion → couching → shade drying.
- Collectibility: as the companion piece to the Chinese Incense Literature Collection, numbered, certified, and story-bound.