Chinese Censers

The history of censers in Chinese culture probably began in the late Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770–256 BCE). The Chinese words meaning “censer” are compounds of lu (爐 or 炉 “brazier; stove; furnace”), which originated as a type of Chinese bronze. Xianglu (香爐, with “incense”) “incense burner; censer” is the most common term. Xunlu (熏爐, with “smoke; fumigate; cure (food) with smoke”, or 薰爐, with “fragrance; an aromatic grass”) means “small censer, esp. for fumigating or scenting clothing; censing basket”.

Kiểm soát tại một ngôi chùa ở Vũng Tàu, Việt Nam — Censer at a Temple in Vung Tau, Vietnam

Order Digital Image 11.873 on A4 scale

Photos and Videos of Chinese Censers

Fotos und Videos von chinesischen Duftrauchbrenner

Fotos y Videos de los Incensarios Chinos

中国香炉的照片和视频

Hình ảnh và Video của kiểm duyệt Trung Quốc

Foto dan Video dari Perbaraan Cina

Фотографии и видеоролики китайских кадильниц

According to the sinologist and historian Joseph Needham, some early Daoists adapted censers for the religious and spiritual use of cannabis. The (ca. 570 CE) Daoist encyclopedia Wushang Biyao (無上秘要 “Supreme Secret Essentials”), recorded adding cannabis into ritual censers. The Shangqing School of Daoism provides a good example. The Shangqing scriptures were written by Yang Xi (楊羲, 330–386 CE) during alleged visitations by Daoist “immortals”, and Needham believed Yang was “aided almost certainly by cannabis”