History of Chinese fans
A detail from “Emperor Taizong of Tang Receiving the Tibetan Envoy” by the Tang artist Yan Liben Photo: FILE
The Chinese character for “fan” (扇) is etymologically derived from a picture of feathers under a roof. Because birds flap their wings to fly, the character for “feather” (羽) became the main part of 扇. The Chinese handheld fan, or “扇子,” is an object that received its Chinese name because of the way that it is used.
Origins
Archaeological ruins and ancient texts suggest that fans have been used since primitive times in China. People tended to wave plate-shaped items to cool themselves. Gradually, items that were frequently used for cooling people became fans. The Shuowen Jiezi (An Explication of Written Characters), a huge dictionary compiled by Xu Shen during the Eastern Han Dynasty, describes fans as the leaves of shapu (a legendary plant), which were used for cooling during the reign of Emperor Yao (c. 24th century BCE) and Emperor Shun (c. 23rd century BCE). These early fans were probably made of leaves. As crafts advanced, fans with bamboo stems, on which were mounted woven bamboo strips, became the predominant form of fan. Feather fans in which feathers were fixed radially at one end of the handle also played a part in the evolution of fans.
Fans used throughout the world since ancient times could be roughly divided into two different types: rigid and folding fans. Early fans were all of the rigid type, and the folding type, the manufacturing process of which was more complicated, appeared much later in China, and the specific time of its earliest appearance is still uncertain.
Historical evidence suggests that folding fans may have originated in Japan and were introduced into China during the Northern Song Dynasty (960–1127). Writings of the Ming scholar Lu Shen (1477–1544) mentioned the folding fan, which was brought to China as tribute by the envoys from Japan and Korea and came into popularity during the Ming Dynasty between the years of 1403 and 1424, and which had been in China since the Northern Song Dynasty. He noted that there had been many poems concerning folding fans written since the Southern Song era (1127–1279), and the great Northern Song poet Su Shi (1037–1101) also depicted a folding fan from Korea in one of his writings. Guo Ruoxu, an art lover in the Northern Song Dynasty, included a short note about the folding fan in his work, Records of Paintings Seen and Heard About. It states that Korean envoys often brought along folding fans as gifts. Guo also pointed out that they were of Japanese origin. Encyclopedia Americana describes the fan as receiving its shape from the design of a bat’s wing and being invented in Japan during the 7th century.
Styles
At the very beginning, people might have simply used large leaves as fans. Woven bamboo and leaf mounted fans were developed after they learned how to weave. Feathers were also a common material for making fans. The Gu Jin Zhu (commentary on the past and the present, literally) by the Jin scholar Cui Bao notes that fans made of the feathers from the pheasant’s long tail originated from the Shang Dynasty. However, evidence suggests that these types of fans had existed before the Shang Dynasty. This can be deduced by the figures dancing with a feather fan in hand in primitive paintings. In addition to plants and feathers, historical texts suggest the existences of leather fans, which were not as good-looking as feather fans. The Kaiyuan Tianbao Yishi (Forgotten Matters of the Kaiyuan Tianbao Era), a collection of tales and novellas from the Tang Dynasty, mentions a story about a leather fan. In the story, a man named Wang Yuanbao has a leather fan. When he has parties at his house in summer, he often puts the leather fan in front of a guest with water sprinkled on it. This would allow the fan to produce a current of cold air. In the story, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang is interested in this fan and wants to borrow it for a try, but Wang refuses his request. Emperor Xuanzong guesses that the fan is made of dragon’s leather. The ancient Chinese believed that dragon’s leather could produce cold air when soaked in water. The material of the “dragon leather” is still an unsolved mystery.
Mineral materials such as mica and liuli (ancient Chinese glass/crystal) were used to produce fans as well. These fans were quite expensive and were desirable objects among the higher classes. Other extravagant fans were known to be made of gold. The book Ye Zhong Ji (History of the Capital City of Ye) recorded that the King Shi Hu of the Later Zhao (a kingdom founded by ethnic Jie during the Sixteen Kingdoms Period) asked craftsmen to make a golden fan for him. The gold leaf of the fan was as thin as a cicada’s wing, decorated with the images of fairies and fanciful animals.
All in all most fans were made of paper and silk, favored because they were easy to handle and carry. Today, paper and silk are still the main material for producing fans.
Functions
The fan has played an important part in Chinese life. In ancient China, fans often functioned as a covering for the face, used when the holder didn’t want to be recognized, or to show awe and respect for someone. According to The Book of Han, Wang Mang (45–23 BCE), founder of the short-lived Xin Dynasty (9–25), often shielded his face with a screen fan made of mica and only those who got close to him could see his face. There was a long-handled fan used in guards of honor among higher classes, known as zhangshan (shielding fans). The Jin Scholar Cui Bao depicted this type of fan as “resembling a pheasant’s long tail in appearance.” The zhangshan were huge, held by servants to cover their masters’ faces. These fans were mainly used for social and court activities rather than as cooling devices.
Ancient Chinese women often used hand fans to hide their shyness. “Dawang Tuanshan Ge,” an Eastern Jin poem that was probably composed by the Jin calligrapher Wang Xianzhi’s beloved concubine for expressing her love for her husband, states that she hid her face behind a fan because she didn’t want her lover to see her when she looked tired.
Fans were also used to kill flies. As is mentioned in the poem, “In the Autumn Night,” by the Tang poet Du Mu, “her candle-light is silvery on her chill bright screen./ Her little silk fan is for fireflies.” It portrays an autumn night in the imperial palace, where the maids, lonely and bored, swatted fireflies with their fans to kill time. These fans in question might have been an early form of the fly swatter.
Social significance was attached to the fans in ancient China as well. For the members of royalty and the nobility, fans could be a symbol of high social status. That was why, whether standing behind the throne, or walking in the footsteps of an aristocrat, there was always a fan or several fans carried by servants. Xijing Zaji (A Miscellany of the Western Capital), a book of anecdotes about the Western Han Dynasty, recorded that the large, long-handled fans presented behind the throne were usually feather fans in summer and silk fans in winter.
Fans were also highly regarded for their aesthetic value. In China, many literati and artists devoted their talents to the decoration of fans, and the resulting works of art were not always mounted for actual use. According to The Book of Rites, a collection of texts describing social forms, administration and ceremonial rites of the Zhou Dynasty, fans that were used by the Zhou people were made of silk, decorated with paintings, jade pendants and colorful feathers. This indicates that paintings on fans have been a tradition since the pre-Qin period. During the Six Dynasties period (222–589), the arts flowered abundantly and individual artists began to rise to attention. A great deal of attention was paid to decorative paintings and calligraphy on fans. The anecdote about how the great calligrapher Wang Xizhi wrote his calligraphy on fans for an old, destitute woman selling hand fans, causing her business to boom, epitomizes this craze for the exquisite taste displayed in the embellishment of fans of the time.
The article was translated and edited from Guangming Daily. Yang Lin is a professor from the School of Literature at Nankai University.
edited by REN GUANHONG