Incense in China "Xiangbang" (香棒, with "stick; club") means "incense stick; joss stick". Two "incense" synonyms specifying religious offerings to ancestors or deities are "gāoxiāng" (高香, ""high incense"") and "gōngxiāng" (供香, ""offering incense""). The Sunni Muslim Hui Gedimu and the Yihewani burned incense during worship. This was viewed as Daoist or Buddhist influence. The Hui, also known as "White-capped HuiHui", used incense during worship, while the Salar, also known as "black-capped HuiHui" considered this to be a heathen ritual and denounced it. The Chinese developed a sophisticated art form with incense burning like with tea and calligraphy called xiangdao (香道). It involves various
Incense in China its nobility enjoying incense as a popular cultural pastime, to the extent of building rooms specifically for the use of incense ceremonies. Besides meaning "incense", the Chinese word "xiang" () also means "fragrance; scent; aroma; perfume; spice". The sinologist and historian Edward H. Schafer said that in medieval China: Words meaning "censer; incense burner" are compounds of "lu" ( or ) "brazier; stove; furnace", which was a category of ancient Chinese bronzes. "Xianglu" (香爐, with "incense") means "incense burner; censer" in general. "Xunlu" (熏爐, with "smoke; fumigate; cure (food) with smoke", or 薰爐, with "fragrance (of plants); an aromatic grass,