Burning Incense to be or not to be – 2131期

Worshiping by burning incense is a culture with a long history in Taiwan.People usually burn incenses and then insert it into the censer to show their respect to the gods and the ancestors. But the neighboring incense shops are influenced by an incense prohibition of Taipei Hsing Tian Temple which was implemented on August 26,2014. The prosperity-to-decline condition of the industry of incense manufacturing reflects that the conventional industries are in a dilemma, and they must  reform or will decay with time passing by.

“Industry of incense manufacturing has already been on its demise.Unless escaping from the tradition to survive,or it would gradually disappear in 20 years.”Xiu-qi Lin, a boss running incense shop for 6 years said. “Back to 15 years ago”, said Lin, “those who ran industry of incense were able to afford a house ; on the contrary, the current income is almost as same as general workers.”There are many kinds of incenses in Ms. Lin’s shop. Besides the paper and incenses, Ms. Lin also sell other products, including sandalwood（檀香）, agalloch（沉香）,and bracelet etc. 

The proverb says, “Hold on to your faith and things will go your way, ” god will always bless devout believers. But it is still worth protecting and passing down the traditional culture. Perhaps Ms. Lin’s prediction would come true. ”After a few years, these temples would become the culture relic for people to visit.”