Hoe Hin White Flower Embrocation

Hoe Hin White Flower Embrocation is a clear, sharply scented oil sold in a small flat glass bottle. The bottle swells at the middle and narrows to a short neck, with the Chinese name 和興白花油 moulded into its sides. A navy capsule label shows two white narcissi, and a navy screw cap closes it. The oil is a blend of essential oils, among them eucalyptus and lavender, with methyl salicylate and menthol, and it is rubbed on in drops.

The maker dates the oil to Penang in 1927, where its founder, Gan Geok Eng, first compounded it. Pak Fah Yeow says he made it for family and friends before selling it, and named it after the white narcissus, his favourite flower. Chinese Wikipedia gives 1925 for his first experiments and 1927 for the first factory, which it places in Singapore. The trademark was registered there in 1935.

In 1950 Gan opened a factory in Hong Kong, and Singapore production ended once it was running. The company advertised heavily, on hoardings and with Cantonese opera stars, and exhibited at the Hong Kong products fair from 1953. Its advertisements listed branches in Penang, Singapore and Hong Kong. In the 1970s the Hong Kong authorities objected to the old prefix 萬應, 'answers ten thousand ills', and the oil became 和興白花油, Hoe Hin White Flower.

The family business later divided, and a Taiwan branch makes its own White Flower oil to this day. The oil on this page is the Hong Kong one, from the company Gan founded, listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange since 1991. It is sold as the Traditional Formula in 5, 10, 20 and 50 millilitre bottles, from the maker's own shop and from Chinese grocers in London and Los Angeles, and is still meant for headaches, stuffy colds, travel sickness and insect bites.