Collection: Hand Fan

Chinese Hand Fan have a history of 3000 years, it played an important role in Ancient Chinese people's life and traditional Chinese culture. The oldest existing Chinese Fan had been found date to the 2nd century BC, in the Mawangdui tomb in Hunan Province.

Ancient Chinese people use Hand Fans mostly for cooling. Beyond that, Chinese Hand Fans can also be used as Hanfu accessory and in ceremonies. Due to the various types and materials of it, a Chinese Hand Fan also represent the carrier's financial situation and social status. Most importantly, Chinese Hand Fans played a role of canvas on which Chinese artists and calligraphers can draw and write. Young women like fans with painting of flowers and birds, scholars prefer fans with calligraphy or landscape painting, while Fan with the pattern of dragon and phoenix can only used by the emperor and empress.

There are different types of Hand Fan in China, such as rigid fan and folding fan. The rigid fan is basically a stick with a rigid leaf. The most popular  tuanshan(团扇, round-shap fan) in Tang(618-907) and Song Dynasty(960-1279) is a stick with a round leaf. Folding fan(zheshan, 折扇) is composed of sticks held together at the end by a rivet. A pleated leaf is mounted on the sticks, so the fan can be folded or unfolded. Folding fan is popular in Ming Dynasty(1368-1644).

Chinese Hand Fan can be made of feathers, bones, bamboo, paper, silk, fabrics and even flexible wood.

In modern times, after the invention of electric fan, Chinese people use hand fan less than in ancient times. But the elders still prefer hand fans because they are more power saving, and some traditional culture enthusiast use them because of the culture they represent.