The Aroma of China

Text by Guo Dan Translation by Madeline Weng Illustration by Pan Zi

The Aroma of China

Text by Guo Dan Translation by Madeline Weng Illustration by Pan Zi

Summer arrives with all species of insects. If you take a walk in the countryside, where the mosquito repellent seems to lose its effect, you are guaranteed to accumulate all sizes of itchy bumps on your skin.

A Taoist nun back home used to give me two bags of fragrant powder that consisted of chypre and Tanarius major, which can help to deodorise the air.I got one out, and hung it on top of the bed. At this time, I noticed that the one I hung during the last Dragon Boat Festival hadn't been taken off, yet it still emanates a light fragrance.

The fragrance gave me a relief. How nice it was to live here year after year! Nothing seems to bother me when I look at the petals fallen on the moonshaped fan by the quiet window.

Although perfume is an imported good, China actually has a long history of producing spice and fragrances. As early as 494 BC, the emperor of Kingdom Yue paid tribute to the emperor of Kingdom Wu, and gave him two beauties - Xi Shi and Zheng Dan. The emperor of Wu even built a palace for them. “Wu set up a pepper house that has curtains made of fi ne string beads...”

A “pepper house” smells subtly sweet, since its walls are painted with a kind of plaster that is blended with ground pepper. Apart from the fragrance that repels insects, “pepper” also carries a good meaning - fertility. Since then, “pepper house” has become another name for empresses and imperial concubines. For instance, the main hall of Weiyang Palace, where the empress of Han Dynasty lived, was also named as “Palace of Pepper House”.

In ancient times, smelling good has also become a shared feature for famous literates and belles.Princess Shouyang was said to use the plum blossom perfume, Emperor Li Yu favoured tambac,while Princess Taiping used Yuhua perfume.A poem of Li Qingzhao's mentioned “cicada silkworm eaglewood”, which was a famous tribute at that time. When the Princesses travelled outside the imperial palace, they would hang the perfume satchel on the chariot, which left behind an elegant fragrance along the way. This is where the phrase“a fi ne horse carrying a cart of fragrance” came from, which has an extended meaning of “an ostentatious display of luxury”.

There are countless stories about Chinese fragrances and their lovers, yet I believe Xue Baocai is among the very top of the list. Xue is a famous character in the Chinese classic novel A Dream in Red Mansion. One day, when Xue was admiring Jia Baoyu's jade, Jia smelt a “delicate cool and sweet scent”. It was nothing like what he used to smell before. Xue smiled and told him that this is actually a pill, instead of incense.

Kallen Guo Senior filmmaker,socialite and bestselling author,authored Don't Fall in Love with Zurich, the winner of The Best Foreign Language Novel.郭丹資深影視人、名媛、暢銷書作家。代表作包括最佳外語小說獎獲得作品《別愛蘇黎世》等。

中國香

香水是舶來品，但其實中國的香料史既長且雅。早在公元前494年，越王向吳王進貢了西施和鄭旦，夫差為此特地修建了館娃宮。“吳處以椒華之房，貫細珠為簾幌，朝下以蔽景，夕卷以待月。”

椒房，是用花椒磨成粉末摻到膠泥里粉飾墻壁的宮殿。椒房會釋放出溫和芬芳的香氣，不僅防蟲且意喻“椒聊之實，蕃衍盈生”。椒房殿是漢皇后在未央宮的正殿，故椒房后亦用為后妃的代稱。花椒末和花椒花末涂在墻壁上，不僅香氣撲鼻，而且可以讓墻壁呈現迷人的粉色。

古代擅制香，這是名士和美人的標桿之一。壽陽公主的梅花香、花蕊夫人的衙香、李后主的帳中香、太平公主的玉華香……都是其中的代表作。李清照最有名的詩句“瑞寶消金獸”，瑞腦香是古代達官顯貴最常提起的，又叫蟬蠶香，是交趾國的貢物。

還有辟邪香、瑞麟香、金鳳香，這三種香都是其他國家的貢品。古代的公主乘輦車出宮，把此香掛在玉香囊中，滿路都香了起來，“寶馬香車”的典故由此而來。

與名人和經典相關的中國香很多，但是把香玩得最玄最雅的那個人，恐怕要數薛寶釵了。那一回，薛寶釵觀看了寶玉的通靈玉，賈寶玉欣賞了薛寶釵的黃金鎖，又聞到了 “一陣陣涼森森甜絲絲的幽香”。遂問：“姐姐熏的是什么香？我竟從未聞見過這味兒。”寶釵笑道：“我最怕熏香，好好的衣服，熏得煙燎火氣的。”寶玉道：“既如此，這是什么香？”寶釵想了一想，笑道：“是了，是我早起吃了藥丸的香氣。”這丸藥便喚作“冷香丸”。