The Chinese are making cheap-end pans, but with no or little added value-added services (quality assurance, customer service/communication, teaching). The Pionese are just riding the first mover wave of being in the handpan market from the beginning. And the greatest irony of it all is that the original handpan inventor that claims sovereignty over the instrument has an issue with all of them.
The handpan itself was inspired by the barrel drums of the Caribbean, also known as Steel Pans. Their lovely sound sings just like you might imagine walking on the white beaches of the Caribbean.