Journal of the American Oriental Society 136.3 (2016) 441 Aromas, Scents, and Spices: Olfactory Culture in China before the Arrival of Buddhism OLIVIA MILBURN SEOUL NATIONAL UNIVERSITY Research into early Chinese olfactory culture is only just beginning. This paper argues that before the arrival of Buddhism, elite scent culture had already begun to be transformed by the importation of foreign aromatics, though these substances arrived shorn of their original cultural context. Prior to the importing of intense foreign perfumes, the aromatics available were mostly local, and traditional Chi- nese practice stressed the use of individual scents in religious contexts, a concept which also had a profound infuence on secular usage. The same is true of early osmographies, which link particular kinds of smells—including many that might be considered unpleasant—to the changing seasons. When foreign spices and aro- matics arrived in China for the frst time, a phenomenon later literature specif- cally associates with the reign of Han Wudi, this resulted in the development of new complex and powerful perfumes. This in turn may have had a signifcant impact upon the material culture of Han China, with the spread of personal scent- ing devices and incense burners. Research into early Chinese olfactory culture is at present in its infancy. Although both Chinese and Western scholars have conducted ground-breaking research into certain aspects of this tradition, the focus of their work has been concentrated in certain specifc felds. In particular, there has been much interest in the use of aromatics in early Chinese traditional medicine, both in terms of transmitted textual evidence and the discoveries made through archaeological excavations, most notably the perfume sachets and collections of medicinal herbs excavated at Mawangdui 馬王堆—a tomb complex dated to 186–168 B.C.E. In addi- tion, there have been a number of studies of the use of incense before the unifcation of China in 221 B.C.E. and in the early imperial period, during the Qin (221–206 B.C.E.) and Han dynasties (206 B.C.E.–220 C.E.), including analysis of the history of use of particular scents. This branch of research has also been heavily infuenced by archaeological discoveries, given that many excavated Han tombs have been shown to contain incense burners, either in the form of ceramic mingqi 明器 (funerary goods) or genuine examples used in life. 1 Finally, there have been a number of studies of individual aromatics—both local and exotic imported spices and woods—which have attracted a great deal of attention for their role in clarify- ing the history of Chinese involvement in international trade. 2 Many of these products are 1. The most extensive studies on mass excavations of incense burners are based on the objects found in Han dynasty tombs in Guangzhou, where a sufcient number of individual graves have been excavated to trace patterns developing before, during, and after the Han conquest of Nanyue in 111 b.c.e.; see Guangzhou Hanmu 廣州漢墓, ed. Guangzhou shi wenwu guanli weiyuanhui 廣州市文物管理委員會 and Guangzhou shi bowuguan 廣州市博物 館 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1981), 1: 126–28. However, most analyses of this group of burners do not distin- guish between those which were intended for use and mingqi; see Feng Luo 馮雷, “Nanyueguo yu haiwai jiaoliu” 南越國與海外交流, Lingnan wenhua 嶺南文化 2000.3: 46. 2. See, for example, Cynthia L. Chennault, “The Reclusive Gui: Cinnamon or Osmanthus?” Early Medieval China 12 (2006); R. A. Donkin, Dragon’s Brain Perfume: A Historical Geography of Camphor (Leiden: Brill, 1999), 209–24; Jiang Shu 江曙, “Lun xian-Qin wenhuazhong mao de zuoyong ji yiyi” 論先秦文化中的作用及 Au/ed: need p. nos. (2006)