LI-20 (Ying Xiang) Welcome Fragrance

What does LI-20 Ying Xiang do?

LI-20 Ying Xiang is the point for the nose — it opens the nasal passages, and it is the final point of the Large Intestine channel and a Meeting Point of the Large Intestine and Stomach channels. That meeting classification is the key to it. The Large Intestine channel ends here beside the nostril and the Stomach channel of Foot Yang Ming begins immediately above at the face, so a single point where the two Yang Ming channels join sits precisely on the nose and commands both lines that reach it. Almost every recorded use follows from that position.

• Opens the nasal passages — the defining action, and the reason for nearly every clinical use of the point. It is applied to a blocked nose, to a running nose, and to a nose that has stopped smelling.
• Expels wind and clears heat — the channel action behind its use in the acute nasal presentations: the sneezing, streaming nose and itching that the tradition reads as wind, and the redness, swelling and nosebleed it reads as heat in Yang Ming.
• Benefits the face and dispels wind from the face — the action behind its use in facial paralysis, deviation of the mouth, twitching of the face, and itching or swelling of the facial skin. It sits in the nasolabial groove, in the middle of the territory affected.
• Joins the two Yang Ming channels — a consequence of its meeting-point classification rather than a separate action, but a practical one: it reaches both the Large Intestine and the Stomach channels at the face with one needle.
• Restores the sense of smell — recorded specifically, and reflected in the point's name. Reduced or absent smell is one of the small number of complaints for which LI-20 is named first rather than added.

Why does this page carry the nasal action rather than Bi Tong?

Because LI-20 is a channel point and Bi Tong is not. Bi Tong (Shang Ying Xiang, EX-HN 8) sits a short distance above LI-20 in the same nasolabial groove and is used for the same complaint, but it is an extra point: it belongs to no channel and carries no five-shu, yuan, luo, xi-cleft, back-shu or front-mu classification, so it cannot carry a channel-theory action. Older descriptions of Bi Tong that spoke of it "promoting the circulation of qi and blood" in the nose were using channel language a non-channel point does not have, and our Bi Tong record now states that correction openly and points here. What Bi Tong has is a documented clinical result — the nose opens. What LI-20 has is that result and the channel mechanics behind it. The two points are so often used together, and so often joined by a single needle threaded from one to the other, that they are best read as a pair rather than as rivals.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (channel and Meeting-Point classification, existing action record — the broken list markup in that record corrected here; Bi Tong record); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture, p. 120; Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion, p. 144; cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is LI-20 Ying Xiang used for?

LI-20 is used for the nose above everything else — a blocked nose, a running nose, and a lost sense of smell — and secondarily for the face around it. The indications recorded in Sacred Lotus sources & references are set out below. They describe traditional use, not proven treatment.

• Nasal obstruction — a blocked or stuffy nose
• Reduced or absent sense of smell (hyposmia and anosmia)
• Nasal discharge and a running nose
• Rhinitis, allergic and chronic
• Sinus congestion and sinusitis
• Sneezing and itching of the nose
• Nosebleed (epistaxis)
• Nasal polyps and nasal boils
• Deviation of the mouth and facial paralysis
• Twitching of the face and eyelid
• Itching and swelling of the face
• Roundworm in the biliary tract, recorded in the classical lists

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (existing indication record); Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion, p. 144; Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture, p. 120; cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

How is LI-20 Ying Xiang used in practice?

Ying Xiang sits on the face, in the crease that runs from the side of the nostril down towards the corner of the mouth, level with the midpoint of the outer edge of the wing of the nostril. It is treated on both sides, and it is one of the small group of face points a practitioner reaches for automatically the moment the presenting complaint is the nose. Our two sourced location records agree closely on it, which is not true of every point. Bi Tong lies a short way above it at the top of the same groove; DU-23 Shang Xing sits on the forehead above; Yin Tang lies between the eyebrows.

Which points is LI-20 combined with?

• With Bi Tong (Shang Ying Xiang) — the essential local pairing, and the combination named most often in the chronic-rhinitis literature. The two sit in the same groove and are commonly joined by a single needle threaded from Bi Tong down towards LI-20. Both are held in Sacred Lotus sources & references.
• With Yin Tang and Bi Tong — the group referred to in the trial literature as the "three nasal points". A randomised trial of 60 patients with perennial allergic rhinitis used exactly these three, with additional points selected by pattern, against oral loratadine (PMID 25675568). All three are held here.
• With LI-04 He Gu — the classic distal partner. LI-04 is the Source point of the same channel and the Command Point of the face and mouth; LI-20 local at the nose with LI-04 distal at the hand is the standard local-and-distal structure for any Yang Ming facial complaint.
• With DU-23 Shang Xing — added on the forehead above, for chronic rhinitis and for nasal congestion with frontal pressure.
• With BL-02 Zan Zhu and Yin Tang — the additions made where frontal sinus pressure and headache accompany the congestion.
• With LU-07 Lie Que and BL-12 Feng Men — the points chosen where the nasal presentation is read as an exterior wind pattern with sneezing and a streaming nose.
• With ST-02 Si Bai, ST-03 Ju Liao and Qian Zheng — the local facial group used with LI-20 when the complaint is facial paralysis rather than the nose. Multi-centre randomised work on intractable facial paralysis uses local face-point protocols of this kind (Chin J Integr Med 2025;31(9), PMID 40707804).
• With LI-19 He Liao — the point immediately below LI-20 on the same channel, beneath the nostril; the two are the channel's last two points and are often described together.

Where does LI-20 sit among its category peers?

LI-20 is not a five-shu, yuan, luo or xi-cleft point. It carries one classification in Sacred Lotus sources & references, and that classification explains it: it is a Meeting Point of the Large Intestine and Stomach channels. Meeting points are chosen when one needle is wanted to influence more than one channel, and LI-20's importance is that the meeting happens on the nose. The Large Intestine channel terminates here; the Stomach channel begins at the face just above; the classical texts describe the Large Intestine channel's terminal branch crossing to the opposite side of the upper lip and flanking the nose, which is the traditional explanation for why the channel's last point should be the nose point of the whole system. Other meeting points in the same family held here include LI-15 Jian Yu at the shoulder, ST-03 Ju Liao on the cheek, and BL-12 Feng Men on the upper back.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (location records, Meeting-Point classification, and the Bi Tong, Yin Tang, LI-04, LI-19, DU-23, BL-02, BL-12, LU-07, ST-02, ST-03, Qian Zheng and LI-15 records queried directly); Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture, p. 120; Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion, p. 144; PubMed PMID 25675568, 40707804; cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is LI-20 located?

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 120): In the naso-labial groove, at the level of the midpoint of the lateral border of the ala nasi.
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 144): In the nasolabial groove, at the level of the midpoint of the lateral border of ala nasi.

How is LI-20 Ying Xiang needled in the textbooks?

Reference record only — this sets out what the standard texts document, not instruction for a reader. Sacred Lotus sources & references record oblique or subcutaneous insertion of 0.3 to 0.5 inch at LI-20. The angle is the substance of the record rather than a stylistic detail: the point lies on thin facial tissue directly over bone, and a flat or shallow-oblique needle runs along the groove instead of into it.

• Angle documented: oblique or transverse (subcutaneous), lying along the nasolabial groove — commonly directed medially and upward towards the bridge of the nose, or threaded upward towards Bi Tong.
• Depth documented: approximately 0.3–0.5 cun. One of the shorter recorded depths in the repertoire, set by how little tissue lies between skin and maxilla here.
• Moxibustion: our own needling record specifies needling only and makes no mention of moxibustion at this point. The wider reference literature likewise treats direct moxibustion as inappropriate on the face, where scarring is the concern.

What are the safety considerations at LI-20?

There is no cavity or organ hazard at LI-20 — it is not over the thorax, the abdomen or the skull cavity — and the shallow oblique angle recorded for it exists precisely to keep the needle in the plane of the face. What the reference literature documents here is local, and it can be stated precisely.

• The bone beneath. Immediately deep to the skin, the subcutaneous layer and the fibres of levator labii superioris alaeque nasi lies the maxilla. Bone is the floor at this point and it is close, which is the anatomical reason for the short recorded depth and for the oblique angle.
• Facial vessels. The facial artery and vein and their angular branches run through the nasolabial groove close to the point, and this is one of the more vascular regions of the face. Local bruising is the commonly reported event, and the reference literature describes pressure after withdrawal as the routine response.
• Nerves of the region. Branches of the infraorbital nerve (a sensory branch of the maxillary division of the trigeminal) and of the facial nerve supply this area. A transient sharp or radiating sensation across the cheek or upper lip when a sensory branch is contacted is documented at facial points generally.
• The direction of the groove. The nasolabial groove leads upward towards the inner corner of the eye. This is why the documented angle is oblique or transverse rather than perpendicular and deep, and it is the one genuine reason the recorded depth is bounded rather than open.
• A cosmetically sensitive site. The face bruises visibly and heals more slowly than the limbs; the reference literature treats this as a practical constraint on technique here rather than as a hazard in itself.
• Risk in proportion. A meta-analysis of prospective clinical studies estimated serious adverse events across all acupuncture at approximately 1 per 10,000 patients, with roughly half of all recorded events being bleeding, pain or flare at the needle site (BMJ Open 2021;11:e045961, PMID 34489268). LI-20 belongs to the low-hazard end of that distribution.

Standard clean-needle practice applies. Acupuncture is carried out only by a qualified, licensed practitioner; this record documents the reference literature and is not a technique guide.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (existing needling record); Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion, p. 144; Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture, p. 120 (surface and deep anatomy of the nasolabial region); PubMed PMID 34489268.

What does the name Ying Xiang mean?

Ying Xiang translates as "Welcome Fragrance" — ying meaning to welcome, meet or receive, and xiang meaning fragrance or scent. It is one of the most transparently functional names in the point system: the point is called "welcoming scent" because it restores the sense of smell, and restoring smell is exactly what the classical literature says it does. The name has a second and older reading in some commentaries, which takes ying in its sense of "to meet" and reads the name as the meeting of the Large Intestine channel, which ends here, with the Stomach channel, which begins at the face — the meeting-point classification written into the name. Both readings are recorded. Other translations render it "Welcome Perfume", "Fragrance Reception" or "Receiving Fragrance".

What does the Meeting Point classification mean here?

A Meeting Point (jiao hui xue) is a point at which two or more channels are described as crossing, so that needling it reaches all of them. LI-20 is recorded in Sacred Lotus sources & references as the Meeting Point of the Large Intestine and Stomach channels — the two Yang Ming channels, one of the hand and one of the foot. The classical channel description has the Large Intestine channel ascend the neck and cheek, cross beneath the nose to the opposite side of the upper lip and flank the nose to end here, where the Stomach channel of Foot Yang Ming is described as beginning its course down the face. That crossing is why a point at the end of an arm channel governs a facial structure, and it is the traditional answer to the reasonable question of what the large intestine has to do with the nose. The reader who prefers a functional account can note the simpler observation that the point sits on the nose.

How does LI-20 differ from the points near it?

Bi Tong (Shang Ying Xiang, EX-HN 8) lies a short distance above LI-20 at the top of the same nasolabial groove and treats the same complaint, but it is an extra point on no channel — it is the local specialist, used for the blocked nose and almost nothing else. LI-19 He Liao lies below LI-20, beneath the nostril beside the upper lip, and is the Large Intestine channel's penultimate point; it shares the nasal indications but is used far less. Yin Tang, the extra point between the eyebrows, is the general calming point of the face and is added to nasal prescriptions for the forehead and sinuses rather than for the nostril itself. ST-02 Si Bai and ST-03 Ju Liao lie above LI-20 on the cheek and belong to the facial-paralysis group rather than the nasal one. All of these are held in Sacred Lotus sources & references.

What do the classical texts say about LI-20?

The point appears throughout the classical ge fu — the rhymed acupuncture verses by which point indications were memorised for centuries. A study of these verses examined the recorded use of Yingxiang LI-20 together with Neiyingxiang ("Inner Welcome Fragrance", EX-HN 9) and found their application concentrated on disorders of the nose, the face and the head and eyes — the same territory the modern texts give (Zhongguo Zhen Jiu 2014;34(10):984–986, PMID 25543431). Nasal obstruction and loss of smell are the indications the verses return to. This is a study of what the classical literature says, not of whether it works, and it is recorded here as documentary evidence of continuity.

Is there research on LI-20 Ying Xiang?

There is real research that names LI-20 specifically, which is unusual for an individual point — but it must be read with a clear line drawn between studies that tested this point and studies of whole acupuncture protocols that happened to include it. Both exist in quantity here, and conflating them is the commonest error in writing about this point.

Studies in which LI-20 itself was the intervention

• Loss of smell after COVID-19, in two cases. A case report from a Japanese university department treated two patients with persistent olfactory dysfunction six to seven months after COVID-19 using LI-20 alone, bilaterally, needled about 10 mm and retained for 15 minutes, once or twice weekly. Symptoms eased immediately after treatment and the improvement lasted two to four days at first, lengthening as sessions accumulated (Front Neurol 2022;13:916944, PMID 36081871, PMC9445155). Two patients, no control and no blinding — this is the weakest study design there is, and it is included only because it is one of the very few in which LI-20 was used on its own for the indication the point is named for.
• Allergic rhinitis in children. A clinical report described electroacupuncture at Yingxiang LI-20 in 78 children with allergic rhinitis (Zhongguo Zhen Jiu 2014;34(11):1114, PMID 25675577). It is indexed as a short single-arm clinical report without a comparison group, so it shows what was done rather than whether it worked.
• Animal work at the point. Three laboratory studies applied interventions specifically at Yingxiang LI-20 in rat models of allergic rhinitis: acupoint injection at LI-20 with Yintang, reporting reduced nasal allergic signs alongside lower histamine H1 and H4 receptor expression in the nasal mucosa (Zhen Ci Yan Jiu 2018;43(4):231–235, PMID 29888576); acupoint catgut embedding at LI-20, examining lower-airway remodelling (Zhen Ci Yan Jiu 2020;45(6), PMID 32643882); and acupoint embedding at LI-20 in a local allergic rhinitis model, reporting reduced inflammatory cytokines in nasal lavage, increased tight-junction protein expression and lower mucosal permeability (Int Arch Allergy Immunol 2024;185(8):739–751, PMID 38588639). These are mechanistic animal studies using modified techniques rather than plain needling, and they say nothing about clinical outcome in people — but they do test this point rather than a protocol.

Whole-protocol trials and reviews that include LI-20

• Systematic reviews of acupuncture for allergic rhinitis consistently include LI-20 among the points used, because almost every trial in the field uses it — but they evaluate acupuncture as a treatment, not this point. A review of 30 trials in 4,413 participants found acupuncture better than no intervention and better than sham for nasal symptoms and quality of life, while noting that trial sequential analysis failed to confirm those results and that performance, attrition and selection bias were serious in most included studies (Eur J Med Res 2022;27:58, PMID 35462555). A separate review of 30 trials of filiform-needle acupuncture reported modest improvements against sham in symptom score, quality of life and rescue-medication use, mostly at high confidence for those two comparisons but very low confidence against conventional drugs (J Integr Med 2022;20(6):497–513, PMID 36068161). A review with trial sequential analysis in children reached comparable conclusions (Int Forum Allergy Rhinol 2024;14(9):1488–1500, PMID 39017391).
• Multi-point trials. The perennial allergic rhinitis trial of the "three nasal points" — LI-20, Yin Tang and Bi Tong — against loratadine reported similar immediate effect and a higher retained effective rate at follow-up in the acupuncture group, 86.7 against 56.7 per cent (PMID 25675568). A heat-sensitive moxibustion trial used needling at LI-20, LI-04, Bi Tong and Yin Tang as its comparison arm (PMID 29318861). A multi-centre randomised controlled trial of acupuncture for intractable facial paralysis used local facial protocols of the kind LI-20 belongs to (PMID 40707804). None of these can show what LI-20 contributed.

The honest summary: LI-20 is the single most consistently used point in acupuncture for nasal disease, the reviews of that literature are cautiously positive but weakened by bias and by a trial sequential analysis that would not confirm the pooled result, and the only studies that isolate the point are two case reports of post-COVID smell loss and a handful of rat experiments using catgut embedding and acupoint injection. There is no sham-controlled trial of LI-20 alone for nasal obstruction or for loss of smell. The point's standing rests on the classical record and on continuous clinical use.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references; Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture, p. 120; Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion, p. 144; classical acupuncture verses (ge fu) as analysed in PMID 25543431; PubMed PMID 36081871, 25675577, 29888576, 32643882, 38588639, 35462555, 36068161, 39017391, 25675568, 29318861, 40707804 (each verified resolvable and checked for retraction status before citation); cross-referenced against multiple online sources.