The shape of the fan can only be divided into two categories: handle fan and folding fan, and its texture can include bamboo, feather, paper, Luo, silk, cattail, ivory, etc. If we look at it from today's perspective, it can be divided into two categories: craft fans and calligraphy and painting fans. The beauty of craft fans lies in craftsmanship, while the beauty of calligraphy and painting fans lies in calligraphy and painting. Although they are both appreciated, the content they appreciate is different. If the fan bone craftsmanship and calligraphy and painting art are both beautiful, it can be called a perfect piece. Since the Republic of China, celebrities, literati, scholars, peasants, industrialists, and merchants from all walks of life have been interested in fan art. Fan art has almost become an everyday thing that Chinese people use and appreciate. In the art world, although the traditional craftsmanship of traditional fans is still widely used for calligraphy and painting, more and more people are adopting its form instead of using the finished fans for calligraphy and painting. Instead, they are directly doing calligraphy and painting on rice paper cut into round fans or folding fans. It has become a trend day by day. It can be seen that it is a common fact to use the fan form to create and appreciate the art of calligraphy and painting. In this way, the appreciation function of art has leapt to the forefront, while its practical function has gradually taken a backseat. Fan calligraphy and painting, from the two Song Dynasty round fans to the Ming and Qing folding fans, from Ma Yuan to Qi Baishi, meticulous freehand brushwork, line drawing and splash color, Danqing ink, landscape, figures, flowers and birds, animals, etc. are all gathered on the fan of Yingchi. , giving people the enjoyment of beauty. Isn't its pleasing to the eye limited to its small shape? Fan works mainly use two traditional expression styles: round fans and folding fans, with various techniques and different styles.
On the Chinese stage, fans are also indispensable. There are many programs that use fans in traditional dramas, which play a role in adding artistic expression.
Modern dances also use fans, such as the familiar fan dance, flower dance, etc. Fans are also used as equipment to strengthen the body, such as the "Tai Chi Kung Fu Fan" which is popular among middle-aged and elderly people. A fan is also a good gift. There are usually shops specializing in fans in cities. There are very cheap paper fans and expensive craft fans. Paper fans are a necessity for people traveling in summer. Craft fans can be given as gifts to friends. Therefore, not only do many people come in and out of fan shops in spring and summer, but even in autumn and winter, many people are still buying fans as high-quality gifts.
There are many types of fans and they are widely used. From ancient times to the present, we have both inherited traditions and continuously developed them. Nowadays, Suzhou's sandalwood fans, Hangzhou's silk fans, Shaoxing's black paper fans, and Huzhou's feather fans are loved by people for their high quality and beautiful appearance.
Introduction to the craft
The origin of the fan in my country is very early, and the prototype of the fan was in the Shang Dynasty. The fan is a practical object. Because of its thinness and large area, it can fan the wind and keep cool. There are many types of fans, but there are only two types that are truly mature and widely used: folding fans and round fans. China has always had a tradition of decorating daily utensils, so there are carvings on the fan handles, and calligraphy and paintings on the front and back of the fans. Earlier carvings, calligraphy and paintings were mostly completed by ordinary craftsmen. Gradually, various talented and imaginative artists came to participate, and the fan evolved into a functional work of art, making people admire it and cherish it as a treasure. Meaning has become a major category of collection today. The fan itself is also an object of appreciation. In good condition, it is made of clay and gold, with silk script and porcelain green tiger skin. It is a tribute to Korea. Famous artists were very happy to see it, and many of their calligraphy and paintings were exquisite. The material of the fan is divided into ordinary persimmon alum fan, pink paper fan, Korean paper fan, alum Xuan fan, pink palace fan and rough silk fan, etc., each with its own characteristics.
Historical inheritance
China's famous Wang Xingji Shanzhuang was founded in Zhoujiaqiao, Shaoxing in the first year of Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1875). The owner, Wang Xingzhai, is a famous ancestral fan maker, and his wife, Chen Ying, is a skillful craftsman of paper fans with gold and paper stickers. Nineteen years after the reign of Emperor Guangxu, Wang Xingji opened sales departments in Hangzhou, Shanghai, Hong Kong and other places, specializing in paper fan sales. Its manufacturing factory is still located in Zhoujiaqiao, and its direct descendant Zhang Jinmu is in charge of production. In 1956, Shaoxing Wangxingji Fan Store and Hangzhou Wangxingji Fan Store were separated, and Shaoxing Wangxingji Fan Factory was established separately. Today, the Zhoujiaqiao area in Shaoxing has become the only place in China that can produce brown bamboo and black paper fans, and there are only a few fan makers left. The black paper fan uses pure mulberry paper as the fan surface material and alpine persimmon lacquer as the adhesive material. The production process is very complex and precise. The high-grade black paper fans made by Wang Xingji Fan Village were once selected as "tribute fans" and entered the royal palace, and were deeply loved by the court nobles and literati. Black paper fans have won many awards at the International Expositions in Milan, Panama and West Lake, Italy. At that time, Wang Xingzhai, the founder of Wang "Xingji", became famous all over the world for his black paper fans, which are still famous handicrafts today.
"Xuan Fan", China's intangible cultural heritage
"Xuan Fan" is a folding fan named after its place of origin. It is produced in Honglin Town, Xuanzhou District, Xuancheng, Anhui Province. Ailan Bamboo and Wood Craft Products Co., Ltd. The owner, Luo Yalan, comes from an ancestral fan-making family. Xuancheng has a long history and a rich collection of people. Since ancient times, there has been a saying that "the South, Xuan, and the North combine". It has a history of more than 2,000 years since the establishment of the county in the Western Han Dynasty. It is the hometown of the four treasures of Chinese study and the hometown of Chinese bamboo. Xuancheng is located in the south of the Yangtze River, at the head of Chu and the tail of Wu. The capital of the south of the Yangtze River is Dayi, and the land of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River. Xuancheng has a profound cultural heritage. It has been a major county in Jiangdong since the Western Han Dynasty. During the Yongjia period of the Jin Dynasty, it was the first to flourish culturally. It has experienced cultural development in the Six Dynasties, Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, and its cultural heritage has a long history. , Xuanfan was born from this.
The Xuan fan originated in the Song Dynasty. At that time, the folding fan was generally known as the "bone-poly fan". It was the time when rice paper technology was mature, which had a huge catalytic effect on the creation of the Xuan fan. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Xuanfan entered its heyday, with various techniques reaching their peak and being deeply loved by literati. Wen Zhengming in the Ming Dynasty, Shi Tao in the Qing Dynasty and other artists of the generation all created works using the fan as a carrier. Xuan fans are exquisitely made, beautiful and elegant, have auspicious meanings, rich connotations, and have high cultural, craft and collection value. The high requirements and rigor of each process reveal that the Xuan fan is the crystallization of traditional craftsmanship and culture.
Xuan fan, the bamboo fan bone is made from bamboos that are more than six years old, such as Moso bamboo, purple bamboo, Xiangfei bamboo, etc. The wooden fan bone is made from precious trees that have been growing for more than 50 years, such as rosewood, agarwood, etc. The fan surface is made of high-quality silk and fine rice paper.
Fan Category
Folding Fan The most commonly used material for folding fans is paper, but silk and yarn are also used. Among them, the paper fan accounts for the vast majority. Paper fans are divided into colored fans and white plain surfaces. In addition to the white surface, among the colored fans, the gold surface fan is the most exquisite, the most complex and the most popular. In addition, there are also mud gold, chip gold, sprinkled gold, etc. which are also popular among the people. Among them, mud gold has been used in our country for a long time. In the Kaiyuan and Tianbao periods of the Tang Dynasty, gold posts were already used. The production of clay gold starts with gold foil, which is beaten into gold foil. As recorded in the "Wu County Chronicle", Suzhou gold foil is also commonly known as red flying gold, each piece is three inches and three-quarters square. Every two pieces of gold can make 2319 pieces. There are three colors of different shades: Dachi, Fochi and Tianchi. Dachi is the true color of gold; Fochi is made of red copper, which makes the color appear deep red; Tianchi contains 20% silver, which makes it slightly light yellow. The gold foil used to make gold fans can be found in all three types, so gold fans also have three colors. Folding fan surfaces can be roughly divided into complete fans and fan surfaces with complete fan ribs. The value of the finished fan is much higher than that of the fan surface, because the material, shape, and especially the carving of the fan bone itself are very particular. Although the fan is not large in size, due to its special shape and the very thick texture of the paper, it is made of multiple layers of thin paper glued together and has creases. Some materials, such as colored paper, gold paper, hair paper, etc., are difficult to master in terms of ink and color, and ordinary calligraphers and painters do not dare to render them at will. Zhu Yunming, a calligrapher of the Ming Dynasty, once compared painting on a fan to a beautiful woman dancing on the rubble. Therefore, the style of fans for calligraphers and painters is often not calculated based on the size of the frame, but is priced separately. The price is much higher than albums of the same size. The fan surface gives people a sense of visual extension, especially landscape paintings, which are often thousands of miles away, and the small is large. The painter must have a clear picture in mind when composing the layout. So it is a unique form of calligraphy and painting.
In addition to various gold fans, there are also fans with pigmented surfaces such as grid, persimmon green, shangqing, lake color, coral, etc., which are quite popular. Unfortunately, most varieties have been lost to this day. White plain noodles have always been the main products in fans, including paper, silk, hair paper, etc. Mainly paper. Large yield, many varieties, early appearance. The manufacturing process of the fans is complicated. Some are made of multi-layered rice paper, ranging from 3, 4 and 5 layers. Some choose high-quality rice paper as the surface layer, and the middle paper is mostly made of lint and lint. The quality of the fan is not only the material selection, but also the production process. It is also a white plain fan, but its height is completely different. In history, the more famous ones include mirror paper and so on. The "Laofan fan" after liberation is the most famous, specially designed to match the ribs of high-end folding fans. It is exquisitely made, clean and elegant, better than a lead pen, flat and strong, and will not crack after long-term use. In particular, its production method is complicated and requires ten processes including cutting, scraping, cutting, gluing, sorting, mounting, brushing, folding, cutting through, and edge trimming. There are also antique, hairpin, silk and other white plain fans. Special mention should be made of the three-open fan, which is specially formulated for erotic painting fans and can be opened left and right. If you spread it to the left, you will see the erotic picture. If you spread it to the right, another picture will appear for concealment.
It is like magic, so it is commonly known as the magic fan.
The round fan is also called the Wuming fan, the "Palace fan" and the "Wan fan". It is a round fan with a handle. Before the Song Dynasty, when it was called a fan, it all referred to a round fan. Wang Changling's poem "Long Letter of Sorrow": "Follow the broom to level the Ming Dynasty and the autumn palace will be opened, and the ball fan will wander around." "Zhang Fan Xin Lu" records: In modern times, plain silk is commonly used, stretched on both sides, or lacquered gold, porcelain green, lake color, with full moon, waist round, hexagonal and other styles, all of which are painted by famous people, with handles made of plum brand, Xiang Fei, etc. There are also brown bamboo, foreign paint, ivory and the like. It's called "Tuanfan".
The round fan was invented in China, also known as the Wan fan, and was later introduced to Japan. The folding fan was invented in Japan and then introduced to China. The common wisdom of the people of Japan and China has enriched human life. It cannot but be said to be an interesting event in the history of cultural exchanges between Japan and China.
The round fan is also called the "Palace Fan". Because it resembles a full moon and is often used in the palace, it is called the Palace Fan. The frame and handle of the round fan are made of bamboo, and the fan surface is made of pure white silk, with paintings of landscapes, towers, flowers, birds, cordyceps, etc. In the early days, they were mostly round, and later there were oblong, oblate, plum blossom, sunflower, begonia and other styles. The exquisite and elegant round fan has high aesthetic appreciation value. From the Han Dynasty to the Northern Song Dynasty, the round fan was popular. Palace fans from Sichuan, Jiangsu and Hangzhou are the most exquisitely made and have the longest history. The palace fan is also called the Wan fan, Tuan fan, and Luo fan. It appears after the feather fan and before the folding fan. Ban Jieyu, a concubine of Emperor Cheng of the Western Han Dynasty, wrote a famous "Song of the Round Fan": "The newly made Qi Wan Su is as bright as frost and snow. It is cut into an acacia fan, and the round ones are like the bright moon. When you go in and out of your arms, the breeze will shake you. I am always afraid of autumn. At the end of the festival, the cold rushes away from the heat. Abandoning the donation basket, the kindness is broken. "The chanting of the round fan expresses Zhao Feiyan's complex psychology of being jealous and ostracized and afraid of being ignored by the king. The beginning of this fan. In ancient times, gauze, damask, Luo, and silk could all be used as the fabric for the round fan. Nowadays, only Luo and silk are used. In recent times, Luo has also been abandoned, and silk is mostly used. Judging from the poems and prose about swimming fans that have been scattered throughout the ages, it can be seen that the round fan was popular from the Western Han Dynasty to the Song Dynasty for more than a thousand years. After the Song Dynasty, it kept pace with the folding fan and was deeply loved by concubines, ladies, and literati. The round fan is commonly used among modern people. The fan surface is made of plain silk stretched on both sides. It may be lacquered gold or porcelain green lake color. It also has the shape of a full moon, a round waist, or a hexagon. It is called "Tuan Fan" by famous people's calligraphy and painting. The handles are mostly made of plum, Xiangfei, or palm bamboo, but also made of foreign paint, ivory, and the like. As for the shapes of silk palace fans, most are round like the bright moon, but there are also many other shapes, such as hexagonal, octagonal, melon-shaped, banana-leaf-shaped, sycamore-leaf-shaped, etc. Among them, crabapple-shaped, horseshoe-shaped , plum blossom shape, which is the most common besides round shape.
About the Southern Song Dynasty, round fans made of bamboo appeared. In 1975, a bamboo fan was unearthed from Maolu, Jintan, Jiangsu. Wooden handle, bamboo silk bone, fan-mounted paper with persimmon juice applied, black lacquered edges. The bamboo silk bones are as thin as manes and are regularly and tightly interspersed on the fan shaft. The fan shaft is painted black. The fan handle has brown-yellow paint and brown-red cloud patterns on the ground. A crescent-shaped fan support is installed on the handle to protect the fan surface. The fan surface is 26 cm long and 20 cm wide, the fan handle is 16 cm long and the thickest diameter is 1.6 cm. Exquisitely made and beautiful in shape. This kind of round fan is close to the popular bamboo bone round fan in the modern market. The modern bamboo bone fan uses bamboo silk as the skeleton, with leather paper (a kind of handmade paper made of pure mulberry bark similar to Korean paper) pasted on both sides. At the same time, paintings, calligraphy or printed patterns are painted on the fan, and then edged, flattened and installed. With a wooden handle and a round fan, you're done. In addition, there are modern round fans that are made from a round or flat bamboo through splitting, weaving, molding and other processes. There are also round fans that use plastic as the fan ribs, and some use thick white paper or plastic hard sheets directly as the fan ribs. fan, and then install an advertising round fan with a plastic handle.