The appearance, structure, hardness, and density of Qinan agarwood are different from the ordinary agarwood many people come across.

Qinan’s resin content is higher than that of ordinary agarwood, but it’s not as dense as top-grade agarwood.

Therefore, Qinan is only semi-submerged in water, while ordinary agarwood floats on the surface, and the highest-grade agarwood sinks instantly.

Most agarwood is hard. When chewed, it breaks down into woody pulp and doesn’t stick to the teeth.

But Qinan is different.

When Qinan is chewed slowly, the initial taste might be unpleasant—acrid, spicy, numbing, and bitter. But after chewing for a bit, the bitterness gives way to sweetness. A fragrant, sweet flavor fills the mouth, growing more intense with every chew.

It is said that the fragrance of Qinan can even permeate all seven of one’s facial orifices.

Agarwood itself is already a very precious and rare fragrant material, so naturally, the highest-grade agarwood is even rarer.

Qinan is formed when agarwood undergoes a qualitative transformation under extremely harsh and specific conditions.

Thus, within a large piece of top-grade agarwood, the proportion of Qinan is minuscule, and sometimes, there is none at all.

According to legend, when ants make their home in the hollows of an agarwood tree, that part of the wood, influenced by a "honey-like essence," solidifies into fragrant chunks. The finest part of these chunks is Qinan agarwood.

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Although the people of China love fragrant materials, the place of origin for Qinan agarwood is not in China.

Qinan agarwood is native to Zhan City, which is now the southern region of Vietnam.

Zhan City was also called *Champa-pura*. In Sanskrit, "pura" means "city."

It was located in the southeastern part of the Indochinese Peninsula.

Its territory was quite large, stretching from Hengshan Pass in modern-day Vietnam’s Ha Tinh Province in the north, to the Pan Lang and Panli regions of Binh Dinh Province in the south.

From ancient times to the present day, the Vietnamese have always clearly distinguished between "agarwood" and "Qinan."

Although other major producers of fragrant materials like Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia, and Indonesia now all cultivate Qinan agarwood, in terms of market value, agarwood from the historical region of Zhan City is always considered by consumers to be the highest quality, most superior, and most authentic.

Qinan’s journey out of Vietnam and onto the world stage was largely thanks to Japan’s "help."

In the 16th century, trade between Japan and Vietnam became increasingly intensive.

Japanese Red Seal ships would periodically visit places like Hui’an in Vietnam to sell metals and cutlery, exchanging them for Vietnam’s local specialties—pepper, cinnamon, and agarwood.

Among the various fragrant materials imported from Vietnam, the Qinan variety of agarwood was a particular favorite of the Japanese.

In the eyes of the Japanese, both Qinan and their native Galangal Wood were renowned as the "pinnacle of fragrant woods."

As the Japanese began to purchase Qinan with frantic enthusiasm, it gradually made its way beyond Vietnam’s borders.

Its supply also dwindled due to extensive harvesting.

Scarcity creates value.

Today, the price of authentic Vietnamese Qinan wood has become prohibitively expensive for many enthusiasts.

During the years when Qinan speculation was at its peak, a piece of high-grade Vietnamese white Qinan sold for as much as 10,200 US dollars per gram in 2007.

In 2008, a Vietnamese yellow Qinan carving sold for an astonishing 2,222,000 yuan.

To this day, the price of Qinan has not fallen, but risen... Therefore, it is no exaggeration to call Qinan the "diamond of fragrant materials."

Qinan also boasts a long and storied history in China.

In *Discussing Old Times with Chen Zhangpu*, a work by the famous Qing Dynasty poet, bibliophile, and member of the "Six Masters of the Dynasty," Zha Shenxing, it is written: "Mountain rents are paid in cowries, trading ships make Jianan cheap."

Jianan is another name for Qinan agarwood.

Even back then, it was said that "a single sliver was worth ten thousand gold."

The earliest written record of Qinan in China appeared in the *Medical Master’s Special Record* by Tao Hongjing of the Liang Dynasty.

In the *Medical Master’s Special Record*, Qinan is described as being slightly warming in nature, able to treat edema and swelling from "wind-water toxins," and capable of dispelling "noxious qi," placing it in the "superior" category of medicines.

Li Shizhen’s *Compendium of Materia Medica* also mentions agarwood, stating it can treat "heat in the upper body and cold in the lower, rebellious qi causing wheezing, constipation from large intestine deficiency, strangury with gas, and ’cold semen’ in men."

As early as the Han Dynasty, Qinan was used in imperial rituals for worshiping Heaven and praying for blessings, and it was the primary incense burned in the homes of the royal family and the wealthy.

By the Sui and Tang Dynasties, records and uses for agarwood had become even more widespread, with medical texts documenting its extremely high medicinal value.

The popularity of agarwood continued through the Tang and Five Dynasties into the Song Dynasty.

During the Song Dynasty, there was a saying: "one tael of agarwood is worth one tael of gold." The "king of fragrances"—the highest-grade agarwood—was difficult to acquire even for a fortune.

By the Ming and Qing Dynasties, this had evolved into "an inch of agarwood is worth an inch of gold," and the culture surrounding agarwood reached its zenith.

Glimpses of Qinan agarwood can be found in literary works.

In Chapter 18 of *Dream of the Red Chamber*, during Yuan Chun’s visit home, among the gifts bestowed upon the Jia Mansion, Granny Jia received two extra items.

One was a string of Jianan Beads, and the other was a walking cane made of Qinan agarwood.

Among the common people, Qinan agarwood was even known as the "Divine Wood."

There is a saying that circulates among the people: "Agarwood saves lives."

As a precious ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine, agarwood can expel noxious qi from the body. And as the finest of all top-grade agarwood, the effects and properties of Qinan agarwood were especially favored by the royalty.

The reason Qinan agarwood came to be called "Divine Wood" can be traced back more than five hundred years.

During the mid-Ming Dynasty, in the ninth year of the Jiajing Emperor’s reign and the thirty-third year of the Wanli Emperor’s reign, as well as during the Qing Dynasty in the thirty-fourth year of the Guangxu Emperor’s reign, the imperial court organized several major renovations of temples and the imperial palace.

To make their beloved palaces even more magnificent, the emperors naturally sought the very best construction materials.

The emperors ordered their ministers to find the finest wood and agarwood, sparing no expense.

The Qinan agarwood from modern-day Vietnam was, in every aspect, the fragrant wood that best met the emperors’ requirements.

As it is said in the *Records of the Grand Historian*, "Cypress is the chief of all woods, fragrant and lovely."

At the time, the "Fragrant Cypress Tree" was known as the "chief of all woods," the most superior of all timbers. And this "Fragrant Cypress Tree" was none other than Qinan agarwood.

Finding it was one thing, but transporting it back to the imperial palace was a monumental problem.

The imperial palace was in the north, while the "Fragrant Cypress Tree" grew in the far south.

Transporting the Qinan agarwood required not only enormous funds and labor, but the journey was also fraught with peril, claiming many lives.

The ministers secretly ordered the "Fragrant Cypress Trees" to be burned and buried underground, attempting to conceal the existence of this timber. They also called this wood the "Divine Wood."

This story came to be known as the "Buried Wood" incident.

The name "Divine Wood" thus gradually spread among the common folk.

There is historical evidence for the "Buried Wood" incident.

In places like Guangxi, archaeologists occasionally discover "Divine Wood" that has been buried in the earth for over 600 years.

Moreover, traces of cutting and burning can still be faintly seen on these pieces of Qinan agarwood.

All of this proves, without exception, that the "Buried Wood" incident truly occurred.

And the location mentioned in the intelligence report is one of the places where such wood was buried.

A piece of the highest-grade Qinan lies buried there.

It has been buried for over 600 years.

The crucial point is that when that piece of top-grade agarwood was felled 600 years ago, it had already been growing for ten thousand years.

An authentic, ten-thousand-year-old, top-grade piece of agarwood!!!