Chinese fans were used in daily life and have a long history in China.
The first fans were made of birds' feathers and tree leaves. It was recorded that a fan made of pheasants' feathers was made in the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600-c. 1100 B.C.) However, king Wu of the Zhou Dynasty (llth century B.C.) was reputed the inventor of Chinese fan.
The Chinese hand-held fan comes in various styles and is made with different materials, including bamboo, paper, bone, feather, ivory, carved lacquerware and paper or silk. Fans made of palm tree leaves are both economical and practical and are very popular among the people. And the most precious fans are those made of mother-of-pearls. The oldest Chinese hand-held fan which dates back to about 2,300 years ago in the Warring States Period was uncovered in Hubei province in 1982.
Among the various types of Chinese hand-held fans, only two are sort after as collector's items, namely the Tuan Shan (a reunion fan or round fan) and the Zhe Shan (a plaited fan that can be folded).
Although in theory Tuan Shan refers to all round-shaped fans, conventionally to the Chinese, Tuan Shan specifically refers to those fans made of silk materials, which are mainly round- or oval-shaped. In addition, square-shaped and rectangular fans with rounded corners are also called Tuan Shan.
Zhe Shan was already used in China during the Song dynasty (960-1279) but it was not until the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) that it became a trendy item. During the Ming era, Zhe Shan production houses sprang up in all parts of China, and the techniques of the Chinese Zhe Shan maker gained refinement.
The popularity of Zhe Shan came to its peak in the Qing era (1644-1911) where it became an artistic item that symbolises a special social status, and was commonly carried by the government officials. During those times, Zhe Shan was not only used as a tool to keep cool in the summer period. The Chinese also used it in the cooler seasons to express their characteristics and moods, or just to make a fashion statement.
Gradually, the hand-held Chinese fans were integrated with Chinese paintings and calligraphy so that they were developed into a handicraft in China and It was also in the Ming dynasty that Zhe Shan took on an unique Han Chinese characteristics and became an integral part of the Chinese culture.
Drawing or writing on the Chinese Zhe Shan fan is no easy task because the fan is narrow at the bottom and broad at the top, and it is fragile. Thus many calligraphers and painters are unwilling to do their work on the fan, or would charge an exorbitant price for their work if they do. This is why the painting and calligraphy on fans are more expensive than paintings and calligraphy of the same or even bigger size.
Chinese calligraphy can be written on the fans in a number of ways. The most common way is to write short and long sentences on the panels of the fans alternatively, so that the writing would not appear to be cramming at the bottom of the fan. Some calligraphers write only one to three words on each panel of the fan. The third way, some would ignore the breaks between the panels and write on the face of the fan vertically, and others would write horizontally across the face of the fan.
Fans that feature both paintings and calligraphy were popular in the Qing dynasty but since the 1920s, ornamental objects made of stone or gold have found their place on the fan surface.
In appreciating a Chinese hand-held fan, every aspect of the fan needs to be evaluated, including the quality of the material used to make the fan's structure, the quality of the paper used to cover the face of the fan and the nails used to hold the fan together.
