About summer

There must be an artifact of coolness

- "Fan"

In ancient times when there were no air conditioning fans

Fans are a necessity in every household

In fact, over thousands of years

The fan is not only a thing that draws wind and coolness

It also has a rich historical and cultural heritage

Let's talk about the fan

Let's see when they were born and what they looked like at the earliest~

The history of the fan

In ancient times, human beings in the hot summer, picked the leaves of a plant or the feathers of birds, and could directly attract the wind and shade the sun and shade under simple processing, which should be the prototype of the original fan.

Today's fan as a practical utensil, its initial age is not called "fan", but called "箑 (shà)" or "萐 (shà)", also known as "翣 (shà)", ancient also has "noodles" and other names, in our country has a long history, relevant literature records can be traced back to the Yu Shun period.

Cui Bao of the Jin Dynasty recorded in "Ancient and Modern Notes: Imperial Clothing": "Wuming fan, made by Shun." Both by Yao Zen, open the audio-visual, seek sages to self-assist, pretend to be five bright fans. ”

A five-bright fan is a fan made from the colorful feathers on the tail of a rooster. This kind of fan was not originally used to shake the wind and cool down, but was held by others as a ceremonial guard, and its main purpose was for the use of the emperor and the minister, in order to show the emperor's attitude of opening up his speech and recruiting talents.

At present, the earliest bamboo fan unearthed is the short-handled bamboo fan unearthed from the ancient tomb of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty in Jing'an County, Jiangxi Province, which is also called the instant noodles. Instant noodles, also known as single door leaf or household fan, are fan-like objects used to cover the face in ancient timesIts history can be traced back to the pre-Qin and Han dynasties, and it was originally used to cover the face so that it could be blinded when it did not want to be seen by others, hence the name "convenient noodles". Noodles are usually semi-circular, similar to a single door, and were made of fine bamboo strips at first, and later became more diverse, including cloth, brocade, silk, silk, etc

This bamboo fan belongs to the late Spring and Autumn Period, is the earliest and most well-preserved fan physical evidence unearthed in China, and it is known as "the first fan in China".

The earliest image of a fan in China appears on the "Copper Kettle with Wrong Banquet and Attack Pattern Pattern" unearthed in Chengdu. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, a long-handled fan called "翣" appeared, which was used as a ceremonial instrument as a ceremonial guard for princes and nobles. At first, the attendants standing behind the princes and nobles held a hat to shield the dust and wind, and then gradually developed into a ceremonial ornament.

In the Han Dynasty, the production process of long-handled fans continued to improve and became more and more exquisite, such as this long-handled bamboo fan of the Western Han Dynasty unearthed in Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan Province in 1972.

Due to its age, the feather fan is easy to destroy, and today it is no longer possible to see the complete physical object of the Han Dynasty feather fan.

Since the Western Han Dynasty, group fans have been popular with people. In the early days, the fan was made of plain white silk, so it was also called "fan". It takes bamboo and wood as the frame, the fabric as the surface, the fan handle is centered, the left and right are symmetrical, the shape is round like the full moon, it is a symbol of perfection, so it is also called the "Hehuan fan". Since the emergence of the Western Han Dynasty, the group fan has continued through the generations, and is deeply loved by people, and is one of the traditional forms of Chinese fans.

During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, lupine fans were generally popular among the middle and upper classes.

There is a type of feather fan called a pheasant fan, also known as a pheasant tail fan, which is also a ceremonial fan. During the Wei and Jin dynasties, most of the princes used pheasant fans, and Emperor Xiaowu of the Southern Song Dynasty was afraid of Liu Yigong, the king of Jiangxia, and even issued an edict stipulating that the princes were not allowed to use pheasant tail fans, and used red Zhutuan fans instead.

At that time, the literati and doctors preferred to decorate themselves with tail fans, especially when talking about Qing Dynasty. 麈 (zhǔ) is the leader of the deer herd, and the actions of the deer herd depend on the swing of the deer king's tail. Therefore, the tail has the meaning of a baton.

In the Tang Dynasty, the group fan continued to be popular, but the aristocratic class preferred the long-handled fan, "Kaiyuan Tianbao Legacy" recorded: "The concubine every summer month, often dressed lightly, so that the waiter fan blows the wind, still can't understand its heat, every sweat, red and greasy and fragrant." For the emperor and nobles, the long-handled fan could also be used as a ceremonial fan, as a ceremonial instrument to show the status of authority.

In the Song Dynasty, with the vigorous development of the industrial and commercial economy, the fan began to gradually become popular among all classes. In Zhang Zeduan's "Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival", you can see the image of people holding fans everywhere.

Not only that, but the literati of the Two Song Dynasty were also keen to paint on the fan surface of the silk fan. In the Yuan Dynasty, there was a downward trend in painting and writing on fans, and this trend was even worse in the Ming and Qing dynasties, when the mainstream of fan-faced calligraphy and painting gave way to folding fans.

Wu Zimu of the Southern Song Dynasty also specifically mentioned the famous fan shops in Lin'an City that hung signboards, including the "Zhoujia Folding Fan Shop". It can be seen that in the Southern Song Dynasty, it was able to make self-made folding fans, and there were specialized personnel and shops for making folding fans, and occupied a place among many fan shops.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the folding fan really dominated the scene, replacing the position of the group fan and the feather fan.

Folding fan, also known as "folding fan", "poly bone fan", "poly head fan", "scattering fan" and so on. There are different theories about the origin of the folding fan, some say that it originated in the Wei and Jin dynasties of China, and some say that it originated in Japan and was introduced to China in the early Northern Song Dynasty. It became popular during the Southern Song Dynasty, but the traditional fan still dominated. During the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, due to the favor of the emperor, craftsmen made a large number of folding fans for the needs of the court. Up and down, folding fans began to be widely popular among the people.

The popularity of the folding fan has changed the situation that the traditional fan is the mainstream in China, the fan surface of the folding fan can be written and painted, and the fan bone can be carved and carved, integrating practical value and aesthetics, and has always been loved by literati and scholars.

On the fan the size of the ruler, it not only embodies the wisdom and wisdom of the craftsmen, but also contains the rich thoughts and emotions of the people, and carries the profound cultural accumulation with distinctive national characteristics.

The development of fans has undergone many evolutions with different shapes, functions and aesthetics. To sum up, it can be divided into the following stages:

Nowadays, there are 100 types of fans, which are generally summarized into two categories: first, flat fans (i.e., group fans, sunflower fans, wheat straw fans, jade fans, etc.) cannot be folded; The second is the folding fan, which can be opened and folded freely. The materials include: bamboo, wood, paper, fans, ivory, tortoiseshell, jade, bird feathers, other palm leaves, betel nut leaves, wheat stalks, cattails, etc.

In thousands of years, the fan is not only a thing that attracts the wind and enjoys the coolness, but also has a rich cultural heritage, and gradually develops into a cultural and artistic association with etiquette, customs, poetry, dance, opera and other cultural arts, and calligraphy, painting, weaving and embroidery crafts and other organic combinations, complementing each other's works of art, which occupies an extremely important position in traditional Chinese handicrafts.