Incense sticks are religiously empowered to serve as a catalyst that establishes the channel to communicating between people, ancestry, and Divinities. To satisfy mental desires, people light up three incense sticks, saying prayers to the God for good luck and expectations to be realized. It seems that these devout god believers feel spiritually and corporally comforted through the messages conveyed in an ethereal cloud of smokes from burning incense sticks.

Owing to a great number of temples and various religious events in Lukang, the incense industry has been prosperous for centuries and if careful enough, you could discover many a time-honored incense shop around Lukang. “Lukang incense” has long been noted for its lasting mild scent that numerous tourists will come to Lukang to purchase it every year.

Incense Master Ming-chong Huang proceeded to show us a different type of incense products—coil incenses. Mr. Huang put the materials for making incenses in the machines and a short while later, out of the machine came several incense strips. Then, he put each strip on a disc, coiling it up separately. This is how the coil incense is made. The spinning disc gives a metaphorical sense that life is completed by blessings.

Standing in the incense shop (Rong-fang-tang), you could smell the purifying aroma in the air rather than behold gray smokes overhead. And we are profoundly moved by Mr. Huang’s diligent attitude.