迎香 Yingxiang
“Welcome Fragrance” · LI20
Hand Yangming · 20 of 20 · crossing-point
Where. Beside the nose, in the smile line, level with the middle of the outer edge of the nostril.
For. A blocked nose, loss of smell, a runny nose.
Press. Light fingertip pressure, both sides together, about a minute.
迎香二穴，在禾髎上一寸，鼻孔傍五分，手足陽明之會。治鼻有瘜肉，不聞香臭按 · Press with me
Six slow breaths
About a minute. Press as you breathe out, ease as you breathe in.
鄰 · Neighbouring leaves
Where Yingxiang Sits on the Face
The dataset places Yingxiang beside the midpoint of the lateral border of the nasal ala, in the nasolabial groove. Translated into everyday anatomy: the alae are the soft, flared wings of the nose, the rounded rims that move when you flare your nostrils, and their lateral border is simply the outer edge of each wing. The nasolabial groove is the familiar smile crease running from the flank of each nostril down toward the corner of the mouth. Put the two together and you have a small, precise address: find the deepest part of the smile line directly level with the middle of the outer rim of the wing, and your fingertip is resting where the record puts this point.
It is worth pausing over how exposed this address is. The face carries almost no padding: skin lies close over thin facial muscle, and beneath the muscle sits the plate of the upper jaw, while the nostril itself opens inches away. Everything about the site therefore invites a light hand. The tissue responds to the gentlest intention, and pressing hard buys nothing except soreness in a place everyone can see. Face points in general reward patience over power; Yingxiang, standing at the very threshold of the breath, rewards it most of all.
The point is symmetrical: one on each side of the nose, mirrored across the midline. Locating them as a pair helps accuracy, because the two grooves should feel alike, and any obvious difference usually means a fingertip has drifted. Notice also what the dataset does not say: it offers no distance figures for this location, because none are needed. The landmarks — wing edge and smile groove — are unmistakable once seen, which makes Yingxiang one of the more forgiving points to find anywhere on the face.
A Self-Palpation Walkthrough
Begin with clean hands and a well-lit mirror, seated comfortably with elbows resting on a table so the arms stay steady. Look straight ahead and give a soft, closed-mouth smile — just enough to raise the corners of the mouth and deepen the two creases beside the nose. Trace the crease on one side upward with a fingertip until you meet the flare of the nostril. Find the wing of the nose and walk along its outer rim until you judge its midpoint. Settle the fingertip into the groove right beside that midpoint: that shallow valley between wing and cheek is the spot the dataset describes.
A few confirmations help before any real pressing begins. Release the smile and feel the groove persist as a faint furrow; smile again and feel it deepen under the finger. Compare sides with the same feather-light touch — many people notice a faint dull awareness or mild tenderness right beside the wing and almost nothing a finger-width away. Let the fingertip rest still for several slow breaths and simply learn the terrain: springy cartilage and skin toward the nose, firmer muscle toward the cheek. If the finger slides onto the slick skin of the nostril opening, it has travelled too far inward; return outward into the groove.
The classic slips are predictable. Some people drift upward along the side of the nose toward the bridge, leaving the groove for the flat of the nose wall. Others slide down into upper-lip territory below the wing. And a surprising number press straight inward into the nostril itself, which is uncomfortable and misses the point entirely. The correction is always the same sequence: find the outer rim of the wing, take its midpoint, then step outward into the smile groove. Mirror work makes this easy to verify — the fingertip should sit visibly inside the crease, not up on the nose.
Reading the Name: Welcome Fragrance
The name is a small poem. Ying 迎 means to welcome or greet — the posture of turning toward an arriving guest. Xiang 香 means fragrance: flowers, incense, cooked food, rain on warm ground. Together, Yingxiang reads as Welcoming Fragrance, and the fit with the location is exact: the point stands beside the nostril, at the doorway every scent passes on its way in. Classical teaching named many points after landscapes and buildings — gates, valleys, courtyards, storehouses — but this one names a gesture, and the gesture tells you what old practitioners thought the spot was for: receiving the world’s smells.
Position within the channel deepens the story. The Large Intestine channel, in classical description, begins on the hand and climbs the arm, shoulder, and neck, crosses the cheek and circles the lower jaw before rising to end beside the nose — which makes Yingxiang its final point. The catalogue also records it as a crossing-point: classical accounts describe other channel lines converging in this neighborhood, most prominently the stomach channel’s facial course. Two great yangming pathways meeting at the doorstep of the breath gave the tradition ample reason to attend to this small groove.
Pinyin writes the name Yíngxiāng, with a rising second tone on ying and a level first tone on xiang. The hanzi pair 迎香 memorises at a glance. Where architectural names invite you to picture a place, this functional name invites you to picture an act — and the act doubles as a memory hook for the recorded uses. When a stuffy nose steals the smell of morning coffee, the image of a little gatekeeper waiting to welcome scents back does quiet explanatory work: this was tradition’s address for the return of aroma.
Traditional Indications, Explained
The recorded indications read: nasal congestion with loss of smell, nasal discharge and bleeding, deviation of the mouth, lockjaw, facial itching and swelling, and nasal polyps. Read as tradition rather than promise, the list sketches a coherent portrait. First come the nose complaints: the blocked nose through which scent cannot enter — precisely the state the name mourns — together with runny nose and nosebleed, which the old records filed among nasal disharmonies. Classical texts describe such congestion as qi failing to move freely in the nose, and a point posted at the doorway was a natural place from which to encourage movement.
The next group concerns the face and jaw. Deviation of the mouth — the pulling of the features to one side described in classical records — and lockjaw were approached at points where the facial channels cross, and a crossing-point beside the nose belonged squarely in those discussions. Facial itching and swelling, and the growths the records call nasal polyps, round out the list as further expressions, in traditional reading, of stagnation around nose and cheek. These are historical frameworks for understanding the body, documented here for context rather than prescription.
It bears repeating plainly: these are the traditional uses recorded in a licensed dataset and classical literature, offered for cultural and historical understanding. They are not claims that pressing this point treats any condition, and nothing here replaces assessment by a qualified clinician. Where modern research touches self-applied pressure near the nose at all, reviews suggest effects are modest and context-dependent, and evidence specific to any single point remains thin. Hold the tradition lightly, and hold the safety rules firmly.
Self-Care Acupressure at Home
With both points located, set up comfortably: seated, elbows supported, shoulders released, hands freshly washed — the fingertips will be working very close to the nostrils, so cleanliness is part of the technique. Rest a fingertip pad on one point, begin with contact alone for a few breaths, then add small, slow circles, letting the skin glide over the tissue beneath rather than grinding against it. Pressure should register as pleasant dullness or gentle warmth, never sharpness. A common home rhythm is one to two minutes per side, once to several times daily, paired with slow breathing through the nose so each circle rides a calm exhale. Repeat on the other side and keep the sessions matched.
Quality matters far more than intensity here. Light, patient, regular contact fits the wellness register this page practises; hard grinding pressure only leaves the face sore and teaches nothing. Many people fold the practice into moments the day already provides — washing the face in the morning, an afternoon pause at a window, the wind-down before bed — because consistency, not force, is what self-care traditions actually ask for. During seasons when noses feel stubborn, some people simply add a session; treat that as personal routine rather than prescription, and let comfort be the referee.
Treat the exercise as a minute of attention, not a treatment session. Notice what changes across days: perhaps the nose feels less tight while you press, perhaps breathing settles a little as the pace slows, perhaps nothing shifts except that you spent two minutes caring for your own face. Every one of those outcomes fits the honest scope of self-acupressure. What does not fit is escalation — pressing harder, longer, or probing toward the nostril to force a result. When curiosity pulls that way, return to gentleness or stop for the day.
Cautions and Safe Practice
This point’s licensed record opens with a clear instruction, and it deserves top billing. The dataset cautions: do not apply moxibustion, as clearly recorded in classical literature. Moxibustion — the traditional warming of points with burning mugwort — belongs to professional practice in any case, but here the classical literature itself draws the line, and the dataset repeats it plainly without elaborating the reasoning. For home self-care the translation is simple: this is a touch-only point. Leave every heat device and warming-balm ritual out of the program, and let gentle fingertip contact carry the whole practice.
The face adds its own housekeeping rules. Skin here is thin and always on display, so work with clean hands and skip the point entirely over cuts, pimples, sunburn, eczema patches, or any broken or irritated skin. Never press into the nostril, and never practice during an active nosebleed — sit quietly, manage the bleed by ordinary first-aid measures, and if bleeds recur or run heavy, arrange a clinical review. Stop at once on sharp, electric, or radiating sensation. Anyone who is pregnant, or living with a facial skin condition, recent facial surgery, or dental treatment in progress, should ask a qualified practitioner before adding new point practice.
And the wider rule stands over everything: this page is educational, and acupressure is self-care, not diagnosis or therapy. Seek prompt clinical assessment — not more pressing — for congestion lasting beyond a week or two, blockage confined to one side that will not clear, recurring nosebleeds, facial pain or swelling, fever accompanying sinus symptoms, or any symptom that worries you. Persistent complaints belong with a licensed practitioner, medical or East Asian medical as suits the concern. The fragrance at the doorstep is a charming image; knowing when to walk past the doorstep to a clinic is the wiser half of wellness.
Yingxiang, Welcome Fragrance, sits in the smile-line groove right beside the nostril — the last point on the Large Intestine channel and the closest thing classical point-location offers to a doorway of breath. Old practice reached for it when congestion shut out scent. This guide covers finding it by touch, what tradition recorded, and how to press it gently.
Cautions from the classical sources
- No moxibustion — the classical texts are explicit on this.
Self-care limits
Frequently asked
- How do I find Yingxiang without any measuring?
- Use the smile as your ruler. Look in a mirror, smile gently, and follow the crease beside your nose upward until it meets the flared wing of the nostril. Walk along the wing’s outer edge to its midpoint, then settle your fingertip into the groove right beside it. That hollow — level with the middle of the wing, inside the smile line — is the spot the dataset describes, no tape measure required.
- Is pressing beside the nose safe?
- Light fingertip contact on intact skin is generally reasonable self-care for healthy adults, and this location is easy to reach without force. The main disciplines are hygiene and restraint: clean hands, pads rather than nails, never into the nostril, nothing over broken skin, and nothing during a nosebleed. Sharp or spreading discomfort means stop immediately. The dataset’s own caution also removes heat therapies from consideration at this point.
- What did classical practice use Yingxiang for?
- The traditional record lists nasal congestion with loss of smell, nasal discharge and bleeding, deviation of the mouth, lockjaw, facial itching and swelling, and nasal polyps. The name itself — Welcome Fragrance — mirrors the leading entry, since a blocked nose that steals scent is exactly the state the point overlooks. Those are traditional frameworks, documented for cultural context, not evidence-backed treatment claims.
- Why does a Large Intestine channel point live on the face?
- Classical channel theory draws the Large Intestine pathway rising from the hand along the arm, shoulder, and neck, crossing the cheek and jaw before finishing beside the nose — so the channel’s journey literally ends at Yingxiang. Classical accounts also describe the stomach channel’s facial course passing nearby, which is why the catalogue records this as a crossing-point. End-of-channel and meeting-point roles together made the spot a natural focus of traditional facial practice.
- Can acupressure here replace treatment for a blocked nose?
- No. Self-acupressure is a comfort practice, not a diagnostic tool. Congestion persisting beyond a week or two, blockage confined to one side that will not clear, symptoms joined by facial pain or fever, or pairing with recurring nosebleeds needs professional evaluation promptly. Think of daily gentle practice and clinical medicine as different floors of the same building: downstairs lives everyday self-care, upstairs is the consulting room you visit when symptoms persist.
Sources
- 01aijiu-mpvue (MIT License) licensed dataset, entry for LI20 Yingxiang — location, point class, actions, and caution record.
- 02WHO Standard Acupuncture Point Locations in the Western Pacific Region (2008), World Health Organization — nomenclature conventions.
- 03A Manual of Acupuncture, Peter Deadman, Mazin Al-Khafaji and Kevin Baker — point-name tradition and channel-course context.
Last reviewed
牌記This leaf, for machines
Old books ended with a colophon saying who printed them. Every leaf here carries the same facts as structured data for agents and search, with no layout in the way.
- GET /en/points/li20/leaf.json
- GET /zh-hant/points/li20/leaf.json
- GET /zh-cn/points/li20/leaf.json
- /llms.txt — the index of every leaf
- JSON-LD in the page: MedicalWebPage, MedicalEntity and FAQPage
{
"id": "LI20",
"name": {
"en": "Yingxiang",
"gloss": "Welcome Fragrance",
"zh-Hant": "迎香",
"zh-Hans": "迎香"
},
"channel": {
"id": "LI",
"order": 20,
"of": 20
},
"location": {
"text": "Beside the nose, in the smile line, level with the middle of the outer edge of the nostril."
},
"for": [
"A blocked nose",
"loss of smell",
"a runny nose"
],
"press": {
"text": "Light fingertip pressure, both sides together, about a minute.",
"seconds": 60,
"sides": "both"
},
"cautions": [],
"source": "Tongren Shuxue Zhenjiu Tujing, book 3",
"url": "https://acupoints.com/en/points/li20",
"lastReviewed": "2026-08-24"
}