Chinese fan culture has profound cultural heritage and is an integral part of national culture. It is closely related to bamboo culture and Buddhist culture. China has always been known as the fan-making kingdom. The main materials of fans are: bamboo, wood, paper, fan, ivory, tortoise shell, jade, bird feathers, other palm leaves, betel leaves, wheat straw, cattails, etc. It can also be woven or made into various kinds of daily craft fans. With beautiful shapes and refined structures, the fans are carefully carved, carved, ironed, drilled, or painted with poems written by celebrities, making the art of fans a hundred times more valuable. Chinese fan culture originated in ancient times. During the scorching summer, our ancestors randomly hunted plant leaves or bird feathers and simply processed them to block the sun and attract wind. Therefore, the fan is called a sun blocker. This is the origin of the fan. source. Fans have a history of three to four thousand years in our country. After thousands of years of evolution and improvement, they have developed into hundreds of fan families, but they are generally classified into two categories; one is the flat fan (that is, the round fan, the sunflower fan, the wheat straw fan, the The jade-plate fan, etc.) cannot be folded, but the two-fold fan can be opened and folded freely. The flat fan comes from "Zhan Fan" (palm fan) and "Zhu Jie" (fans made of bamboo slices in ancient times were called "Zhu Jie"). During the Warring States, Qin and Han Dynasties, a semi-circular "instant noodles" resembled a single door, so they were also called "household fans". "Instant noodles" are always made of thin bamboo strips and are used by emperors and common people alike.
During the Western Han Dynasty, the symmetrical "Hehuan Fan" (also known as palace fan, Wan fan, and Tuan fan) was round in shape. The characteristic of the Hehuan fan is that it has a plain white face with the fan handle as the central axis, and is symmetrical from left to right like a full moon. , the Wan fan is made of bamboo wood, with a round or oval surface, and is made of thin silk. At that time, the Wan fans made in the Central Plains area were the most sophisticated. There was a saying of "Qi Wan Chu Bamboo", which refers to the Wan fans made of Shandong silk and Hunan bamboo. This kind of Wan fan was very popular in the Han Dynasty, and poems were written to praise it, such as Ban Jie's fan poem, "The newly cracked Wan is plain, as fresh and clean as frost and snow, cut into an acacia fan, and the clusters are like the bright moon, entering and leaving the sleeves of the king, shaking the breeze hair". After the emergence of this symmetrical round fan, it has been used throughout the generations and has become a traditional fan shape in my country.
In the Qing Dynasty, in addition to circles, symmetrical fans also included oblong, oblate, square, plum blossom, sunflower, melon, waist, and horseshoe shapes... The outstanding features of these fan shapes are Symmetrical, light and craftsmanship.
The folding fan was called "Jutou Fan" in ancient times, or it was also called a scattering fan or a folding fan. It was named after its two heads can be merged into one when folded. In the Southern Song Dynasty, the production of folding fans had reached considerable scale. Folding fans became popular in the Ming Dynasty. The emperor ordered palace craftsmen to imitate Korean fans and absorb foreign craftsmanship to promote the development of domestic fans.
The fan originated in China and has a history of more than 3,000 years in China. It first appeared in the Yin Dynasty and was made of colorful pheasant feathers. It was called a "barrier fan", so there is a "yu" character in the word "fan". At that time, fans were not used to fan the wind and cool down, but to provide shade from the sun, wind and sand when the emperor went out on inspections. After the Western Han Dynasty, fans began to be used to keep cool. During the Three Kingdoms period, Zhuge Liang gently waved his goose feather fan and came up with brilliant plans and strategies. The wind coming out of the feather fan is slow and soft, and does not get into the air. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, most feather fans were made of silk, silk, damask and other fabrics to embellish embroidery paintings. A bright moon-shaped fan is called "Wan Fan" or "Tuan Fan", also called "Albizia Fan". At that time, fans had the shapes of oblong, sunflower, plum blossom, hexagonal, and plaque; they also had handles made of wood, bamboo, bone, and other materials; and they were also decorated with pendants, tassels, and jade. Fans are often embroidered with landscapes and flowers in various styles. Ladies in the boudoir hand-shake the fans to let in the gentle breeze. This not only adds to the elegant and quiet demeanor of the owner, but also embodies the innocent and lively personality of women.
Writing poems and paintings on fans first appeared in the Three Kingdoms. According to Zhang Yanyuan's "Records of Famous Paintings of the Past Dynasties" written in the Tang Dynasty, there is a story about Cao Mengde's chief secretary Yang Xiu and Wei Taizu's "painting fan accidentally clicked and turned into a fly". "Book of Jin·Biography of Wang Xizhi" has a story about Wang Xizhi giving a fan to an old woman. At that time, there was an "old mother" who "held a hexagonal bamboo fan and asked Wang Xizhi for a letter." There is the "Inscription Fan Bridge" on the south side of Jishan Mountain in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province today. According to legend, it is the place where Wang Xizhi inscribed his fan.
In the Northern Song Dynasty, folding fans appeared that were extremely easy to carry.
Folding fan is also called "Jutou fan", "Spreading fan" or "Jugu fan". The fan bones are made of precious materials such as horn, tortoise shell, ivory, jade, Xiangfei bamboo, sandalwood, etc.; the forms include piano style, Ruyi head, bamboo joint style, grasshopper eye, etc.; the fan bones are divided into seven, nine, twelve, fourteen, and ten. Six or eighteen shares.
In the Southern Song Dynasty, the practice of painting fans, selling fans, and hiding fans became popular, and fan shops and painting dealers appeared. It became a fashion for literati in the Ming and Qing Dynasties to inscribe and paint fans. In modern times, Yun Shouping, Zheng Banqiao, Jin Nong, Shi Tao, Ren Bonian, Wu Changshuo, Qi Baishi, Zhang Daqian, Xu Beihong, Fu Baoshi, Li Keran, etc. are all art masters who inscribed and painted fans. At present, each of these famous calligraphy and painting fans is worth tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of yuan.
The characters and paintings on the fans are pleasing to the eye and give people a beautiful enjoyment. When appreciating fan calligraphy and painting, you must savor it carefully and slowly appreciate the artistic connotation. Mr. Lao She has been keen on collecting calligraphy and painting fans throughout his life. Over the past few decades, he has collected hundreds of fans, including fans of Ming, Qing and modern calligraphers and painters who wrote poems and paintings, as well as fans of calligraphy and painting by celebrities in the theater world. Mr. Zheng Yimei is obsessed with fans and regards them as "a treasure that is unique in both calligraphy and painting". He cherishes Zhang Taiyan's seal script fan and Wu Hufan's calligraphy and painting fan of Green Plum Blossoms the most. Contemporary female writer Ye Wenling has a taste for collecting antiques, and calligraphy and painting fans are also among her collections. There is a fan in the bookcase in her study, with the word "Qingfeng" inscribed by Liu Haisu; the word "Mingyue" inscribed by Feng Youlan; the four words "Rocks Collapse" written by Pei Yanling; and humorous paintings painted by Hua Junwu , Cao Yu's poems and so on, Ye Wenling cherishes them very much.
In the history of the fan, it was originally called the "Wu Ming Fan". It is said that Shun once made the Wuming Fan in order to seek talents for the wider development of audio-visual arts. During the Yin and Zhou dynasties, a kind of "Zhai fan" appeared, which was made of colorful pheasant tail feathers, so it was called "feather fan". "Erya" talks about: "The wood is called a leaf, and the reed is called a fan." From this, it can be inferred that the early fans may be rectangular reeds. Early fans were not used for cooling, but as ceremonial tools for rulers, so they were also called "ceremonial fans." After the Qin and Han Dynasties in my country, the main shapes of fans were square, round, hexagonal and other shapes. The fabric of the fans was made of silk. Because it was widely used in the palace, it was also called "Palace Fan". During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, it became popular in the world. Mainly Wan fans and feather fans, as well as a small amount of paper fans. After the Song Dynasty, folding fans gradually became popular. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Zhejiang, Suzhou, Sichuan and other places were rich in folding fans, and inscriptions and paintings were also popular here. This exquisite skill was introduced to Europe from the Ming Dynasty and then became popular all over the world.
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