Voice From The Sky, Zhufu, ChuJian and Cinojad are four independent Chinese houses that appeared between 2019 and 2025. They draw on a shared cultural stock (tea, incense, borneol, landscapes and the poetry of the scholar class), but they work in very different ways: one perfumer composing alone, a brand that says little about its founders, guest perfumers from Europe and China, a family business. Here is what connects them, what sets them apart, and which perfumes to start with.
Four young houses
These houses are recent. Voice From The Sky was founded in 2019 by perfumer Tianle Feng, and its first perfume dates from 2020. Zhufu has been active since 2022, according to the Parfumo database. ChuJian released its first perfumes in 2024. Cinojad launched its first collection in 2025.
A word on our sources. These houses share little information, especially outside China. ChuJian and Zhufu do not name their founders. We found no Cinojad entry in the major fragrance databases. What follows comes from information published by the houses, as it appears on our product pages and in our detailed profile of each one. When something is not documented, we say so.
Four houses do not sum up Chinese perfumery. They are the ones we carry and know well. They are enough, though, to show that there are several ways to make a Chinese perfume today.
What connects them: tea, incense, borneol and the scholars
Tea
Tea shows up at two of the four houses. Zhufu devotes Aged Pu-Er Tea to an aged pu-erh. ChuJian makes it one of its main threads: oolong appears in Oolong Rocking Green and Phoenix Meets Mountain, and a tea note also features in ChangBai Sandal and Boreal Fir. The treatment varies a lot, sometimes green and juicy, sometimes earthy and woody.
Incense and borneol
Incense appears in four of the seven Voice From The Sky perfumes. Borneol is rarer in Western perfumery. It is a camphoraceous material used in China in incense and traditional medicine. Three of our four houses use it: in Talking To The Moon by Voice From The Sky, in Above The Clouds by Zhufu and in Hua Qiang Ye Meng by Cinojad. It gives a clear, slightly medicinal freshness that recalls the inside of a temple.
Scholars and landscapes
Several perfumes start from a poet or a text. Poet, by Zhufu, draws on Li Bai. Talking To The Moon refers to a poem by Su Shi about the loneliness of drinking alone under the moon. Cinojad places its whole approach under the sign of jade, the stone of quiet elegance for the scholar class. Jiangnan, the land of water and canals south of the Yangtze, is the setting for Iris in Jiangnan at ChuJian and for Yue Tan Li Yuan at Cinojad.
Landscapes are the other common thread. ChuJian names its perfumes after mountains, imperial gardens and tea regions. Cinojad follows the Silk Road from Xinjiang to Jiangnan and gives almost every material a place of origin: Turpan mulberry, Lugu Lake fir, Xishuangbanna borneol.
One thing to keep in mind: these references do not add up to a "Chinese style" you could recognize blindfolded. All four houses combine these materials with those of classic French perfumery. Voice From The Sky pairs Sichuan pepper with iris, labdanum and aldehydes. The name of a place does not tell you what the perfume smells like, either. The notes on the product page remain the best guide.
What sets them apart: who composes the perfumes
This is the real dividing line between these houses.
Voice From The Sky is a one-perfumer house. Tianle Feng comes from a family of perfumers. He studied at ISIPCA, the perfumery school in Versailles, then went back to China to take over the company his father had founded. He composes every perfume in his brand, at a pace of about one a year, and each one starts from a moment in his life: meeting his wife on a beach in Cannes, the birth of his daughter, a lion in the Serengeti.
Cinojad is a family house. Perfumer Jaden founded it with his mother, May. According to the house, he works with natural materials of strong character and extracts some of his essences himself. Its motto, "Fragrance · Sound · Image", makes clear that perfume is only one part of the project.
ChuJian works the other way around. The house says little about itself, but it names the perfumer behind each creation. You will find established European perfumers such as Anne Flipo, Caroline Dumur, Maxime Exler, Mathilde Bijaoui and Ralf Schwieger, alongside Chinese perfumers: Tianle Feng, Alex Lee, Diana Zhai and Gary Wang. The theme comes from China, the execution passes through very different hands.
Zhufu is the most discreet of the four about its creators. The Parfumo database lists two perfumers, Meng Gu and Jinyu Ju. For most of the original line, attributions vary from source to source, so we do not list them.
One name links three of these houses. Tianle Feng signs his own perfumes, he composed Tianshan Spring for ChuJian, and our product pages credit him with Cocoa Toffee at Zhufu. It shows how small the scene still is, with the same people moving from one house to another.
Bottle sizes and concentrations
The four houses have also made different practical choices, worth knowing before you buy.
- Zhufu: 15 ml bottles, extrait de parfum at 25% according to our product pages. The small size lets you finish a bottle and rotate.
- ChuJian: extraits only, in 50 ml for the P references and 30 ml for the M and L references.
- Cinojad: five eaux de parfum in 35 ml bottles.
- Voice From The Sky: 50 ml bottles, with eaux de parfum, one eau de toilette (First Touch) and extraits for the three most recent perfumes.
Concentration affects longevity and how much to apply, as we explain in our article on the differences between extrait, eau de parfum and eau de toilette. At Passion Parfum, every perfume from these houses also comes as a 2 ml sample, subject to stock for Zhufu.
Eight perfumes to understand the four houses
Voice From The Sky
Gentle King is a woody leather eau de parfum. Top notes of aldehydes, black pepper, Sichuan pepper and blackcurrant bud, a heart of hay, hinoki, cypress, violet leaf and iris, then incense, labdanum, tonka bean, leather, oud, amber and white musk in the base. It shows Tianle Feng's method well: a Chinese material, Sichuan pepper, set on a classic perfumery structure. It was a finalist at the 2022 Art and Olfaction Awards.
Talking To The Moon is an extrait. Borneol, elemi, incense, wormwood and oakmoss on top, sandalwood and iris in the heart, then osmanthus, castoreum and cashmeran. Together, borneol and castoreum give an ink-like smell that the perfumer links to imperial ink. It is the darkest perfume of the house, for lovers of incense and animalic notes. Availability of Voice From The Sky bottles is shown on each product page.
Zhufu
Aged Pu-Er Tea uses only a few notes: pu-erh tea and bergamot, then cedar and vetiver, then sandalwood and vetiver. The tea is earthy and woody, far from fresh green teas. Its short structure illustrates how readable the original line is.
Donglin Temple is presented as a collaboration with Donglin Temple in Shanghai's Jinshan district. Citrus, bergamot and ginger, a heart of lotus, cypress, fir and camphor, then rosewood, cedar, agarwood and musk. The conifers give a resinous woodiness, and camphor an almost medicinal freshness.
ChuJian
Oolong Rocking Green N°P26, by Diana Zhai, takes its name from the step where Tieguanyin leaves are shaken to release their scent. Bergamot, grapefruit, pear and green notes, a heart of jasmine, orange blossom, ylang-ylang, rose and orchid, then oolong tea, vetiver, moss and musk. A green, juicy tea, worth comparing with Aged Pu-Er Tea to see how far apart two houses can be on the same material.
Iris in Jiangnan N°P43, by Caroline Dumur, is the most stripped-down perfume of the house: aldehydes and green notes, a heart of iris alone, a musk base. Our gauges rate its sillage 2 out of 5. It is a cool, powdery iris that stays close to the skin.
Cinojad
Yue Tan Li Yuan is set in Hangzhou, in the Jiangnan of the scholars. Chinese pear, apricot kernel and wild sophora flower, a heart of allspice, ambergris and lemongrass, then white sandalwood, cashmeran and Tarakan agarwood. Pear and apricot kernel open it, then sandalwood and agarwood take over. It is the woodiest and easiest to wear of the five Cinojad perfumes.
Hua Qiang Ye Meng takes place in the rainforest of the Dai people, in Xishuangbanna. Camphor tree flower, jasmine grandiflorum and wild rose, a heart of banana leaf, frangipani and Xishuangbanna borneol, then elemi, Burmese rosewood and benzoin. It brings together two traits of the house: a rare Chinese material and a precise origin for each note.
To go further, our full profiles cover each house in detail: Voice From The Sky, Zhufu, ChuJian and Cinojad.
Frequently asked questions
Are there Chinese niche perfume brands?
Yes. Voice From The Sky, Zhufu, ChuJian and Cinojad are four examples. They are independent houses that appeared between 2019 and 2025 and work with Chinese materials and references. They are still hard to find in Europe and the United States.
Do all Chinese niche perfumes smell of tea or incense?
No. Tea and incense come up often, but the families are very varied: sandalwoods, powdery florals, aromatic greens, fruity scents, gourmands. Tianshan Spring by ChuJian is a fresh aquatic, Tough Berry by Voice From The Sky a fruity scent built around strawberry. Read the notes rather than the name.
What is borneol in perfumery?
It is a camphoraceous material used in China in incense and traditional medicine. In perfume, it brings a clear, slightly medicinal freshness. You will find it in Talking To The Moon, Above The Clouds and Hua Qiang Ye Meng.
Which Chinese house should I start with?
It depends on what you already like. For tea, Zhufu or ChuJian. For soft woods, Yue Tan Li Yuan by Cinojad. For incense and dark perfumes, Voice From The Sky. The safest approach is to compare two or three samples over several days.
Where can I buy Chinese niche perfumes?
Passion Parfum carries all four houses in full bottles and 2 ml samples, shipped from its own stock in France. Availability of each size is shown on the product page.
These four houses are part of the new scenes covered in our niche perfumery guide, and the difference between niche and designer is explained in this article. Every perfume mentioned comes as a 2 ml sample: our samples page lets you put several together before choosing a bottle.