ChengLin Agarwood Forest Museum is located in Yunlin County’s Huwei Township in southern Taiwan. Covering an area of 5.8 hectares (14.3 acres), the forest museum is a famous tourist attraction where visitors not only can gain an insight into agarwood, but also can take in the beauty of the Japanese-style garden and lush forest of agarwood.
Please watch this video of the ChengLin Agarwood Forest Museum.
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Exhibition Hall
There are various agarwood-related objects displayed in the museum’s spacious exhibition hall. By viewing these objects, and reading the explanations, visitors can further understand the planting, growth, and application of agarwood.
Besides agarwood objects and products, what intrigues visitors most are the wood sculptures exhibited throughout the museum. Most of them are works of art carved from Chamaecyparis obtusa. Among them is a 3,000-year-old Chamaecyparis obtusa collected from Alisan (Ali Mountain) by the owner of the museum, and it boasts the largest of its kind in the world.
Picturesque park
Another highlight of the museum is its unique park with beautiful gardens and ponds. The Japanese-style garden features ornate bridges and simple zig-zag pathways that meander through the garden.
There are over 80 species of beautiful trees planted in the park. Among them, the bald cypress trees in the pond behind the museum receive the most attention from visitors. They are especially beautiful when their leaves change from green to orange in autumn. There is also a heart-shaped piece of land in one of the ponds, which is a hot spot for photography.
Gift shop
The gift shop is an interesting place to visit. There are a variety of essential oils, handmade soaps, shampoos, incense, perfume, and sculptures for sale. Visitors are always welcome to try out essential oils and other items. Visitors can also learn more about the oils from a video in the shop.
Agarwood
Often referred to as “Black Gold,” “Wood of God,” or “Diamond in the Forest,” high-quality agarwood can cost as much as US$100,000 per kilogram, making it one of the most expensive raw materials in the world.
Agarwood is in fact derived from an infected part of the tree. It is said that only about 2 percent of wild Aquilaria trees are adequately infected to develop agarwood naturally. Due to its unique process of formation, it can take up to 10 years for agarwood to develop in a natural environment. There are about 27 species of agarwood in the world.
Benefits of agarwood
The resinous wood is used to make incense, and served as Chinese medicine, while the resin is used to produce daily necessities, such as essential oils, perfumery, soap, cleaning supplies, and even health food and skin care products.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), agarwood is purported to work wonders in improving the circulation of qi, treating the digestive system, stabilizing blood pressure, relieving pain, stopping vomiting, alleviating asthma, and regulating the vital organs. In fact, agarwood has been widely used by Chinese people for religious and medicinal purposes for over 1,000 years.
Agarwood forest
Agarwood tree is an evergreen tree with heights ranging from 6 to 40 meters. The ChengLin Agarwood Museum started its operations from scratch, and cultivated agarwood trees with natural farming methods, hoping to produce resins with natural and pure smells.
The museum’s agarwood forest is quite impressive. There are over 20,000 flourishing agarwood trees with the same height in the forest.
Additionally, there are also some lush green agarwood trees of different sizes scattered along the path behind the museum. Some of them have blossomed and their flowers are elegant and beautiful.
The ChengLin Agarwood Forest Museum is an informative and interesting place where visitors can broaden their horizons on agarwood, and enjoy the beauty of nature.
