Fragrance of Incense begins in rural western Liaoning and tells the story of Yang Xinhua, a woman who endures hardship amid the tides of her time yet remains determined to survive.
In 1970, Yang Xinhua was born into an ordinary farming family in Yangjiatuozi. After her father died, she took on the burden of supporting her family at just sixteen. At nineteen, she was forced to marry into a neighboring village, where she endured years of domestic abuse at the hands of her husband, Yang Meng. To escape that hell, she found the courage to divorce him, only to lose custody of her daughter and leave her hometown with her body covered in scars.
In the provincial capital, Yang Xinhua experienced the hardships of working at the bottom of society, trading sweat and tears for survival. Her fortunes began to change when she met Liu Xiaojun and Chen Meng, two women who had also been battered by life. The three shared a small rented home, saved money to learn a trade, and started the Three Good Foot Therapy and Care Studio, carving out a place for themselves with their own hands. But then the sisters were separated: Liu Xiaojun fled after being harassed by her ex-husband, and Chen Meng left for the sake of her marriage. Yang Xinhua’s health collapsed when acute pleurisy damaged her lung function, and her romantic life took another blow when Wu Hao deceived her. One setback after another drove her to the brink.
At death’s door, her benefactor An Jingnan, who had quietly watched over her all along, pulled her back from the edge several times. After recovering, Yang Xinhua saw through worldly concerns and placed all her gratitude in the incense she offered before the Buddha. Every day, she prayed for An Jingnan and his family, relying on her simple faith to sustain her through the rest of her life.
With delicate prose, the story depicts a woman crushed by the combined weight of her times and her fate, who goes from having life “strip her to the bone” to tempering herself into something resilient through suffering. Yang Xinhua’s life is a portrait of the countless ordinary women who keep “living” even when they are at their lowest: struck down by fate time and again, they nevertheless light the way forward with their undying “incense,” their determination to live and their faith in goodness.
So good 👍👍👍