From Qianjin Yifang to a Contemporary Chinese Aromatic Balm

What is this contemporary Chinese aromatic balm?

In the video, an incense maker is grinding a mixture of twelve flowers. It looks like a simple preparation step, but the flowers are only one part of a much larger formula. The finished product will be a contemporary Chinese aromatic balm.

Its inspiration comes from a formula recorded in the Tang-dynasty text Qianjin Yifang (千金翼方), traditionally attributed to the physician Sun Simiao. In Volume Five, among preparations for the face and body, the text records a zao dou (澡豆) formula containing aromatic woods, flowers, pearl, jade, mineral materials and soybean powder.

What we are making today is not a reconstruction of ancient zao dou. The ingredients and proportions have been adjusted, and the final form has changed completely—from a powdered body preparation into a contemporary aromatic balm. What remains is the underlying attention to how different materials are handled before blending.

Different materials should not be treated in the same way

One instruction in the historical formula is particularly revealing: grind the flowers, grind the aromatic materials separately, and process the pearl and jade separately before combining everything. That same underlying logic appears in the workshop today.

The modern formula contains twelve kinds of flowers, together with materials such as agarwood, Qingmuxiang, clove, pearl, jade and mineral ingredients.

They cannot simply be thrown into a grinder together. Flowers behave differently from aromatic woods, while pearl and jade behave differently from both. Each material has its own texture, hardness, moisture and aromatic character, so each needs to be prepared differently before the final blending begins.

Why are the flowers ground for only about thirty seconds?

Flowers are especially delicate. Grinding creates friction and heat; if they are processed for too long at once, some of their more volatile aromatic qualities can be lost. In the video, the flowers are therefore ground in short cycles of around thirty seconds.

A small amount is added, ground briefly, then more material is added. The process continues gradually until all of the flowers have been prepared.

Agarwood, clove and other harder aromatic materials are handled separately, and pearl and jade are processed on their own. The goal is not merely to make everything “fine enough”; it is to bring very different materials into a state where they can eventually work together.

An ancient formula, but not an ancient product

This distinction matters.

The surviving formula in Qianjin Yifang is a zao dou formula. Historical zao dou were powdered preparations used in washing and personal care, often combining bean powder with aromatic, botanical, mineral and sometimes animal-derived materials. The same section of Qianjin Yifang discusses face preparations, hand preparations, clothing fragrance and zao dou together, showing how closely scent and body care could overlap in everyday life.

The aromatic balm made in our workshop is a contemporary interpretation. Its flower selection, formula and physical form have all been changed, so we do not describe it as an ancient recipe reproduced exactly as written.

What continues from the older practice is something more fundamental:

understand the material first, process it accordingly, and only then bring the ingredients together.

Chinese aromatic culture was never limited to burning incense

Today, the English word incense often makes us think immediately of smoke. Historically, however, Chinese aromatic materials could be burned, used to scent clothing, carried close to the body, incorporated into powders, or made into preparations used in everyday grooming.

That is one reason we prefer to think of He Xiang (合香) as a broader culture of blended aromatics rather than only as incense sticks.

The same agarwood can appear in something burned in a censer, in a formula for scenting clothing, or in a preparation made for the body. The form and the relationship between materials change, but the underlying attention to how different aromatics are prepared and brought together remains. Another example is the tradition of Chinese incense plaques worn or carried without burning.

The video shows only a few minutes of grinding flowers, and what comes afterwards is another process entirely. Yet even in this small step, an old principle remains visible:

before materials can become one fragrance, they first have to be understood separately.

Sources and further reading

• Qianjin Yifang (千金翼方), Volume 5, “Women’s Facial Preparations”: the historical zao dou formula and its instructions for grinding flowers, aromatics, pearl and jade separately.