Incense in The Wind: Goose Pear Tent Incense

Saturday, 24 January 2026

Goose Pear Tent Incense

Goose Pear (or Goose Pear Tent as it is more formally known) is a famous ancient Chinese incense. There are several versions as to its origin. The first version I became aware of, involved "the deep affection that Li Yu, the last ruler of the Southern Tang Dynasty, had for Xiao Zhouhou". Li Yu was a largely ineffectual ruler, though a respected poet; Xiao Zhouhou was the 14 year old sister of Yu's wife, Zhou Ehuang. Li Yu supposedly made the special incense, which was a blend of steamed pear and agarwood that had been buried for a period of time, and burned it in his garden in order to seduce the young woman to come to him in the moonlight. It's a compelling and romantic story, though the details of the love affair appear to be dubious - we know Li Yu did marry his wife's younger sister after his wife died, and that he was a poet, though there is only speculation that he was having an affair with the 14 year old while his wife was dying. And these stories originated long after the events supposedly took place, so are not based on court documents or eye witness reports. The main evidence appears to come from some of Li Yu's poetry - an article by Ding Fang in the Journal of Chinese Humanities is one example. Ding Fang says of this (rather beautiful) poem,

Moonlight veiled, flowers glow in the misty night,
This eve I’ll seek my love’s embrace so bright.
Silk-stockinged feet on scented stairs,
Gold-threaded shoes in hand I bear.
By the painted hall’s south side we meet,
I tremble as our bodies greet.
Though sneaking out brings fear and thrill,
Let passion reign, and have its will.

that it is "Li Yu’s depiction of his clandestine rendezvous with the younger Empress Zhou". Well, no doubt it is a poem about a secret liaison, but I'm less certain about who is involved. Here is another translation, in which the viewpoint is shown to be from the woman's aspect (and that is true of other translations I have read). He may have been writing about an imaginary (though desired) liaison, or it may have been an actual liaison, but it could have been with another person, including a memory of meeting with his wife when they were younger. It's poor proof that he was having an affair with his wife's sister.

The incense is also known as Emperor Li's Sleeping Incense - referencing the same Li Yu, and using a mix of agarwood, sandalwood, and pear, and steaming them together. The idea is that the scent of the incense aids sleep.

The Korean scholar Seo-Yu-gu (1764–1845) in his Encyclopedia Koreana on Rural Living gives a recipe for "Lord Li's pear incense", which is the earliest date I've yet found to mention this incense. And it is noteworthy that in the 19th century it was not called Goose Pear (Tent), but it is linked to Li Yu. The recipe is roughly translated as "Finely chop 38 grams of agarwood. Add juice made out of 10 Ya pears to make into a paste. Put the paste inside a silver bowl and steam cook it three times. When the paste is completely dried, it may be burned."

The Ya pear ( 白梨) , also known as the Chinese white pear, is often translated as "duck pear"; reasons given vary from the shape of the fruit resembling a duck, to Ya meaning duck in Mandarin. The name "goose pear" appears to be a variant translation, or a hybrid version of the pear, depending on source.

The "tent" aspect of the name is given in some sources as "pear sweetness wrapped in warm incense smoke", while in others it suggests that this was incense to be burned indoors with curtains over the windows to contain the fragrance. That source says that the incense was made by Li Yu and his wife. Another source says that it was his wife who made the incense, and returns again to the idea that the incense was developed to aid sleeping, which appears to have been a common use for incense during the Tang Dynasty. Special rooms for burning incense was made popular during the Song Dynasty which replaced the Tang Dynasty, and it may be an interpretation by Song writers that Li Yu and Zhou Ehuang burned the incense in a "tent".

There is evidence of incense use in China dating back to the Shang Dynasty, though the Han Dynasty is generally regarded as the start of regular and purposeful incense use, which was further developed during the Tang Dynasty through the import of incense along the Silk Road; and it is this period when agarwood became most highly prized.

The quick summary is that Goose Pear Tent incense was likely developed just over a thousand years ago during the Tang Dynasty in the court of Li Yu and his wife, and either or both may have been involved in its creation. That it was created to aid relaxation and sleep, and that it involved steaming Chinese white pear with agarwood, and sometimes also sandalwood. The resulting paste was dried before burning, and some recipes suggest burying for varying periods, though this is perhaps a mistranslation of burying the agarwood inside the pear. The name appears to originally have been some variation on Li's incense or Li's sleeping incense, then later it became known as Goose Pear Tent incense through the use of the Chinese white pear which is sometimes translated as goose pear, and a possible use of the incense in a room with silk curtains (a tent) or that the delicate pear aromas are enveloped in a "tent" of agarwood smoke.

Reviews

PW = Perfumed wood