White Lotus Aromatics Newsletter,  Issue: Ancient China, Part 1  

Fragrance in Ancient China
Part 1

In many ancient cultures fragrance played a key role in the religious, secular, political and economic lives of the people. The culture of ancient China displays a rich diversity of traditions in which natural aromatics played a significant part and in this newsletter (Part 1 of 2) a brief glimpse of that world is attempted.

During the course of China's lengthy history a culture of great refinement came into being. On the material front China in many cases was far in advance of Western culture. Along with her devotion to the material sciences, China also evolved a highly rich and sophisticated spiritual, religious, philosophical and cultural life in which a profound respect and appreciation for nature and all her infinite gifts played a major role.  

The foundation of many of the disciplines was the Chinese Garden. All the elements of stone, water, plants architecture etc were combined in such a way as to capture the vital principles of harmony, balance and repose found in the natural world (that is the world undisturbed by human beings and their vagaries). More...

Hsiang Yun
Fragrant Cloud Perfume

The traditions that arose in ancient China were in the first instance influenced by the living plants and their aromas as they appeared through the seasons. The role of the natural world in the life of the Chinese people was deep and significant. The plants which they chose to reflect the moods of the seasons as well as their symbolic aesthetic, spiritual and mystical messages were relatively few in number but carried an immense impact.

This perfume, then is an attempt to capture some of the ancient aromatic beauty of the fragrances of the plants found in traditional Chinese gardens.  More...

May Updates 

Dear Friends-  Kind greetings! The world of natural aromatics contains endless avenues of exploration according to ones interest and background. This month we decided to take up the subject of Aromatic Traditions in Ancient China. In due course of we will take up Aromatic Traditions in other parts of the world as well.  

For those of you who special ordered the Blue Lotus/Blue Water Lily(Nymphaea careula) and White Water Lily(Nymphaea ampla) phytonic absolutes-you will be glad to know that the order is in process.

For those of you who did not preorder I will only stock the Blue Lotus Phytonic absolute and White Water Lily Phytonic Absolute in the sample size(1/20th of an ounce) It is $80 for the sample size. I will only have 20 each of the sample size so kindly order early if you want to explore these precious essences. More...