Our Heritage — A Century of Handmade Incense from Pingdu, Qingdao
Nestled in the western part of the Shandong Peninsula, Pingdu is cradled by the Daze Mountains, where four distinct seasons, clean mountain water and rich wild vegetation have supplied incense-makers with raw materials for centuries.
As early as the Qing dynasty, Pingdu's incense industry was already flourishing — its fragrant sticks were carried beyond local markets to the coastal towns of Yantai and Weihai. So closely was the town tied to the trade that it became known simply as "Xiangdian" — "the Incense Shop" — a gathering place of master perfumers that endures to this day.
Chinese incense has never been merely fragrance. Rooted in the herbal tradition, it is meant to purify the air, ornament the home, and gently settle the mind — a small daily ritual woven into festivals, seasons and quiet moments.
Four Generations of the Wang Family
Our craft is carried by the Wang family of Pingdu, now in its fourth generation:
- 1920s — Practicing physician Wang Jisheng began blending herbal incense in his spare time, selling affordable, quality sticks from a small shop.
- 1940s — Second generation Wang Fushun and Qin Jingfang expanded the recipes with Pingdu's own field and mountain herbs — mint, mugwort, clove, thyme, Solomon's seal, ginger and Sichuan peppercorn — producing incense with a mellow, rounded aroma beloved across the region.
- Third generation Wang Xiuxiang refined the formulas, broadening the variety and consistency.
- Today, fourth-generation Wang Yali founded Yipinya Life Studio and Qingdao Yuankai Incense Co., Ltd., preserving the old hand methods while bringing the craft into a modern, wellness-oriented line. The workshop has been officially recognized as one of Pingdu's first intangible-heritage workshops.
Why "24"?
Over two thousand years ago, the Han-dynasty astronomer Xu Wanqie — himself a man of Pingdu — helped compile the Taichu Calendar, the first Chinese calendar to formally codify the Twenty-Four Solar Terms. Ever since, incense has been an invisible part of China's seasonal rituals: welcomed spring, cooled summer, welcomed autumn, settled winter. Our Twenty-Four Pin (二十四品) series is our quiet homage to that calendar — one incense for every season of a mindful life.
The Craft, Unchanged
Each stick is still grounded, pounded, pressed and rolled by hand using the same wooden rollers and stone mortars that have served this workshop for decades — natural herbs, natural wood-binder, no artificial fragrances, no shortcuts.
A hundred years of smoke, still rising.