To coincide with the recent exhibition, "Fragrance of Time" curated by the Hong Kong Museum of Art, we have engaged a young entrepreneur, Aaron Tang who excels in handcraft Chinese incense and ancient Chinese fragrance culture to give a talk about the culture and history of incense in Hong Kong. Participants can also smell typical and natural Chinese scents on site during the visit.
Despite various explanations for the origin of the name of Hong Kong, the most popular belief is that Hong Kong derives its name from “Fragrant Harbour” or “Incense Harbour”. The phonetic translation of the city name, Hong Kong based on its Cantonese pronunciation, 香港.
Where did the name of Hong Kong come from? One of the many sayings is that Hong Kong was the main incense production place for overseas Chinese from 1940s to 1970s. One of the key materials for making incense is Agarwood, which was vastly planted in many ancient villages in Hong Kong during the Song and Ming Dynasties (from the late 10th century to the 17th century). Hong Kong then became a major harbour for agarwood, its oil, and resin to be transported from Guang Dong province to northern Chinese provinces.
For thousands of years, burning incense has not only played an important role in Chinese culture, but is also closely intertwined with the aesthetics of ancient life and artistic creation.
Source: 1) https://www.hongkongincense.com/ 2) https://www.discoverhongkong.com/hk-eng/what-s-new/events/detail.id82137.fragrance-of-time-in-search-of-chinese-art-of-scent-chinese- culture-festival-2024.html
The Speaker
Mr. Aaron Tang Ho Chuen, is an incense master and founder of Hong Kong Incense Company (港香堂). At the age of 15, he began his hobby of burning incense for both studies and enjoyment. His passion and affection for Chinese fragrances gradually urged him to pursue R&D on the handcraft of incense making since 2007, and over a three-year period of trial and error, he succeeded in developing his series of handcrafting natural incenses. Starting from 2017, he has been teaching his master classes in incense making and appreciation of Chinese fragrances. He also sells incenses as well as related merchandise. Apart from significant media exposure through interviews on local TV, radio and printed media, he was interviewed and his story recorded in a recently released Japanese book “香港百貨: 雑貨で伝えるMade in Hong Kongのかたち”(Convey the “Made in Hong Kong” spirit through miscellaneous goods) written by a Japanese veteran photographer and collector, Miyuki Kume who lives in Hong Kong.
Insisting on using only the finest natural materials to create high-quality natural incenses with handcraft, Aaron now works full-time for his incense business since 2023. Prior to that, he has worked as a team head on due diligence in the banking industry, following completion of his master’s degree in 2016. He graduated at the Chinese University of Hong Kong with his Master of Social Science in Public Policy, Public Policy Analysis. More about Aaron Tang: https://www.hongkongincense.com/
Programme
Admission: $150 for members, $230 for guests /non-members
Registration: Please email <membership@royalasiaticsociety.org.hk> and provide your membership number, if applicable, at the time of registration. Maximum capacity is 20 persons.
Please kindly complete your registration also by advance payment via Stripe's payment links below (using your Credit Card):
Members ($150): https://buy.stripe.com/9AQ9DG95L9ZAeha15r
Non-members / Guests ($230): https://buy.stripe.com/8wM17a4Pv0p0b4Y29w
Please contact us if an alternative means of payment is required. Upon receipt of payment, your registration will be confirmed by email. Registration will be closed at 12:00 noon on 7 October 2024.