Long time ago the red sandal wood was regarded as the top grade. The "record at all times" of Cuibao in Jing dynasty said, "purple nan mao with purple color came from Funan area is in purple color, that is the red sandal wood", and the knowledge of how to use the red sandal wood.

The tree is mainly produced between Nanyang and Canton, Guangxi areas of China. The growth of the redsandal wood is very slow, which needs at least hundreds of years to become the real wood with hard rigidity and high density. The furniture made of red sandal wood is extremely black, just like the black lacquer which has seldom texture and shows the nobleness, magnificence and connotation.

It is recorded that people not only from Chinese, but also from Europe and America all enjoy the red sandal wood, and regard the wood as the most nobleness in the world. It was said that in front of the Napoleon's grave had a half-ruler model in red sandal wood, which all of the visitors felt extremely surprised. Later, someone came to China and found the top grade was gathered the Forbidden City of Beijing.

Since Ming dynasty, it was popular to use the red sandal wood in the palace to make the furniture and furnishings. The sandal trees were cut out very soon, and the emperor send the assigned persons to collect them. During the course of early Qing dynasty, most of the red sandal wood were gathered in China, which the reason why foreigners believe it was a great works when the red sandal ware was on the top of Napoleon's grave.