At the Lunar New Year, temples throughout Taiwan provide lively scenes as people visit and pray for good luck, with sticks of incense in hand. During the Tomb-Sweeping Festival, people burn joss paper to honor their ancestors. During Ghost Month, people burn joss paper for wandering ghosts. During the Confucius Ceremony, there is a ritual that involves burning a special type of joss paper until it completely burns out, representing the sincere and respectful intentions of the worshipers.

Taiwanese folk religion is a blend of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. This syncretic religion often involves the burning of incense and joss paper—but what do these practices symbolize?

Professor Lin Ching-chih of National Chengchi University explains that the rising smoke and fragrant aroma characteristic of Han Chinese religious rituals serve as media for communicating with the divine.

A culture of incense and joss paper

According to Assistant Professor Lin Ching-chih of the Graduate Institute of Religious Studies at National Chengchi University, the sacrificial rituals of the Han Chinese involve the transformation of materials through burning and smoke, which serves as a means of communication with the gods and the transmission of prayers. The rising smoke and fragrance are the medium through which communication with the heavens and spirits is established, and this is also the ultimate origin of the practice of burning incense and joss paper.

Incense and joss paper are not only the basic materials for communicating with the gods, but they also serve many functions. According to Lin, by using incense and joss paper, one can transform one’s everyday living space into an “extraordinary” sacred space.

For example, many households have a shrine dedicated to a deity or deities. By burning incense and purifying the space around it, the atmosphere can be transformed into a religious space. This is the function of incense and joss paper as a “link between worlds” and purification tool.

Joss paper can also change the sacredness of a space. For example, when a deity rides in a palanquin during a procession and stops, the benches where the palanquin is placed can be covered with joss paper to distinguish the sacred from the secular. This flexible and adaptable transformation of space is a characteristic of Chinese beliefs.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has recognized Mazu belief and customs as an intangible cultural asset. Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture has also designated the Dajia Mazu pilgrimage and the Baishatun Mazu procession as intangible cultural assets under the category of “folk customs.” According to Lin Ching-chih, joss paper and incense are essential materials in these activities and as such are part and parcel of those intangible cultural assets. The ash left after burning incense represents the embodiment of the gods. For example, during the Baishatun Gongtian Temple’s Mazu pilgrimage to Beigang’s Chaotian Temple, the staff scoop ash from the “eternal incense burner” and bring it back to the temple in Baishatun, where it is believed to possess the spiritual power to perpetuate the veneration of Mazu, as expressed in the burning of incense.

According to folk beliefs, passing sacred objects related to the gods through the smoke rising from incense burners imbues them with divine power.

Common joss paper and incense varieties

Incense and joss paper come in many different types. Based on its shape, incense can be roughly categorized into stick incense (with a bamboo core), wound-up incense coils, stickless incense, and cone or pagoda-shaped incense.

Stick incense is commonly used for worship in Chinese culture. Traditional incense coils can burn for 24 hours, symbolizing the continuous offering of incense. And pagoda-­shaped incense can be used for ceremonies, fulfilling promises, or ritually purifying the environment.

Meanwhile, joss paper can be divided into three categories: gold paper, silver paper, and paper money. According to local historian Zhang Yiming, who studies the culture and art of worship paper, such paper can represent currency, symbolizing giving, while the metal foil attached to it represents the denomination. Gold paper is used for worshiping deities, with foil pasted on bamboo paper and colored with gold-colored pigment, and a red seal on the front or side of the stack. Silver paper is used for ancestors or ghosts, with foil on bamboo paper without the gold paint, preserving the original color of the foil. Another type is plain paper money, printed with identifiable patterns and text, which is used to express appeals to heaven and earth. “Some are used for military purposes, such as ‘armor and horses,’ and these types cannot be used indiscriminately.”

Joss paper is a symbolic offering, but burning more of it does not necessarily mean that one’s intentions are more sincere. For example, during Ghost Month, burning paper money for the spirits of the dead is meant to summon them. However, burning too much may actually attract more and undesirable spirits, which could have un­intended consequences.

If a deity needs a break during a procession in their palanquin, joss paper will be placed between the palanquin and the benches on which it rests. This transforms an everyday setting into a sacred space. (photo by Kent Chuang)

Environmentally driven reductions

In recent years, there has been a lot of discussion about the environmental impact of burning joss paper and incense. According to Lin Ching-chih, research from both the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Academia Sinica indicates that the burning of incense and joss paper are not major sources of air pollution in Taiwan. However, he believes that folk traditions are a product of accumulated wisdom and should change with the times.

“Just as cars and buses are shifting from using fossil fuel to electric power, so too should the use of joss paper and incense evolve.” Lin explains that by improving the burning equipment and enhancing the quality of the materials used, traditional culture can also keep pace with the times. He believes that the cultural significance of joss paper and incense is preserved in religious ceremonies, and the act of burning them can be done in moderation while still achieving the desired effect.

From field studies he has discovered that temples, businesses, and even ritual personnel have taken it upon themselves to take the burning of joss paper and incense into a new age without waiting for government intervention. This is an example of the religious community’s autonomous practice of environmental protection.

Gold joss paper symbolizes offerings to the gods and can be used to pray for their protection and blessings.

Inspired by Hermès

The Chen Xiehe Joss Paper Shop in Zhunan, Miaoli County, has developed a “blue ocean strategy” for joss paper—“buy better, burn less”—by adjusting their approach to joss paper production based on the segmented focus employed by the makers of Hermès bags.

Zhunan was originally settled by immigrants from ­Fujian, who brought with them their religious beliefs and the craft of making gold and silver joss paper. As the domestic market boomed, the joss paper industry flourished. However, since the 1990s, the industry has declined as a result of mechanization, offshoring, and increasing environmental awareness.

“You can’t change the direction of the wind, so adjust your sails,” says Chen Kunhui, 80-year-old third-­generation owner of Chen Xiehe Joss Paper. Chen was beset with worries about the decline of his industry until one day he saw a news report on handmade Hermès bags that cost thousands of dollars, yet wealthy women still clamored for them, and he was struck by inspiration: “Why not create the Hermès or Louis Vuitton of the joss paper industry?”

“If foil is the stand-in for denomination, more of it means the ‘bill’ is bigger, and so burning one big bill can replace several small bills of joss paper.” With this in mind, Chen increased the size of the tin foil on the joss paper from about the size of a fingertip to about ten times larger, differentiating his paper from other joss papers on the market.

In response to environmental concerns, Chen Kunhui uses 99% pure tin foil, which can be completely burned, rather than aluminum foil, which cannot. He also uses less polluting traditional bamboo paper instead of ­recycled paper. For his gold foil products, he soaks them in natural shellac, secreted by insects, which makes the cost 100–200% higher than other gold foil products on the market. Despite a slow start, Chen’s business picked up after a TV program in 2000 featured his slogan “buy better, burn less,” which resonated with customers.

Chen Kunhui, third-generation owner of the Chen Xiehe Joss Paper Shop, continues to follow the traditional manual methods of producing joss paper.

The Chen Xiehe Joss Paper Shop has created joss paper of larger “denominations” by using larger pieces of foil on the bills, making it possible to burn the same amount by value while reducing the physical amount burnt.

Melding culture and environmentalism

According to Tsai Meng-yu, director of the EPA’s Department of Air Quality Protection and Noise Control, burning incense and joss paper may be a ritual showing respect to gods and ancestors, but due to changes in living environments, especially in densely populated urban ­areas, we should also adjust how we worship. Accordingly, the EPA advocates burning less incense and joss paper, letting off fewer fireworks, burning fewer candles, and increasing the use of centralized furnaces to burn joss paper. The EPA also provides subsidies for local governments to set up environmentally friendly joss paper furnaces. Ultimately, the goal is to not burn incense or joss paper at all. For example, last year’s “Don’t Burn, Donate” program allowed people to donate the money they would have spent on paper money to disadvantaged groups, helping to achieve the goal of not burning joss paper.

For example, in many temples worshipers are now encouraged to place one stick of incense in incense burners instead of three, and to use smaller stacks of joss paper, or larger denominations. On average, over 200,000 tons of joss paper are used each year in Taiwan, with more than 20,000 tons being burned in centralized furnaces in recent years, accounting for over 10% of the annual usage and increasing each year. At the same time, donations made under last year’s “Don’t Burn, Donate” program totaled NT$50 million.

According to Tsai, the amount of donations and the level of centralized burning have been increasing year by year, indicating that the public’s acceptance of this adjusted approach to worship is growing. The EPA plans to continue promoting these changes in the future.

The burning of incense and joss paper is an integral part of Taiwan’s rich cultural traditions. However, in a rapidly changing world, traditional culture and environmental protection are both important values to consider, and it is possible to adapt and evolve with the times while still preserving our traditions.

Many temples have installed pollution control equipment on their joss paper burners to reduce air pollution. (courtesy of Pingtung County Environmental Protection Bureau)