The Gong fan appeared around the end of the 19th century. According to the third generation descendant of Gong Shan and the oldest living elder of the Gong family, 84-year-old Gong Changrong, Gong Juewu was a coal picker in the salt field [in the late Qing Dynasty]. He picked coal from the coal plant to the salt field every day, and his income could only make a living. One summer, Gong Juewu, who was sweating profusely, saw a businessman from Leshan holding a very beautiful bamboo fan in the salt field. This was the first time in his life that he had seen such a beautiful fan, and he was filled with envy. Gong Juewu, who had no money to buy a fan, decided to make his own fan. Unexpectedly, this thought led to the creation of the "Gong Fan", which was later hailed as the first fan in China.
The talented Gong Juewu used bamboo silk as thin as hair to weave flowers, birds, insects, fish, figures and landscapes on the fan. The gentry and officials were all proud to hold a Gong fan. In 1886, the "Baochuan Bureau" founded by Zhou Xiaohuai of Qunyeh Road in Sichuan collected folk handicrafts from all over the province to participate in the "Bao Competition" in Chengdu. Gong Juewu took his carefully woven fans to Chengdu to participate in the competition. People praised him and unanimously recommended Gong Fan He was the leader of the "Sai Bao Hui" and received a gold medal from Emperor Guangxu. In 1908, Gong Shan was elected to the imperial palace. The concubine in the harem held an exquisite and clear Gong fan in her slender hands, which became a new beauty in the imperial garden, and the Gong fan became famous from then on.
Since the fifth reign of Gong Jue, the craftsmanship of Gong fan weaving has been passed down from generation to generation. It has a history of more than 130 years and has been passed down through five generations. A Gong fan became more and more refined in the hands of five generations of Gong family, and finally became "the first fan in China". Gong Juewu's son Gong Yuzhang learned fan weaving from his father since he was a child and became the second generation successor of Gong fan. Gong Yuzhang developed his father's fan-weaving craftsmanship. The patterns are more complex and the characters are more realistic. In 1944, Yu Shu, a big salt merchant, paid a lot of money to ask Gong Yuzhang to weave a bamboo silk fan with jade handles and landscape paintings. It took Gong Yuzhang several months to complete the weaving. Yu Shuhuai gave this fan to Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang liked it very much and played with it all day long. The fan is still collected in the Lushan Museum.
Through the tireless efforts of five generations of descendants of the Gong family, Gong fans have won people's favor with their unique artistic charm. In 1982, the Gong fan was exhibited in Philadelphia, the United States, as an exported handicraft from Sichuan. American friends who visited the exhibition exclaimed "OK" repeatedly. One American friend praised: Using such thin bamboo silk to weave a fan surface as thin as silk, and Such a beautiful pattern, it’s incredible! Currently, in the arts and crafts market, a Gong fan woven with ordinary bamboo silk is priced at several thousand to tens of thousands of yuan. In recent years, Gong fans have been given as gifts to foreign heads of state and international friends by party and state leaders many times. Like Hangzhou silk, Jingdezhen porcelain and other unique handicrafts, they have become representatives of the splendid culture of the Chinese nation.
"Gong Fan" was founded by Gong Yaoyu and has been passed down to the fifth generation. The second generation Mr. Gong Yuzhang attended China's first artist conference in 1953. In 1955, he was elected as a member of the Sichuan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and a member of the Chinese Artists Association. In 1959, he was received by Marshal Zhu De at the China Heroes Conference. His works were listed as national treasures. The third generation Mr. Gong Changrong and Mr. Gong Yuwen were awarded the titles of Master of Arts and Crafts of Sichuan Province and Master of Arts and Crafts of China respectively. The fourth generation Gong Daoyong was awarded the titles of Sichuan Arts and Crafts Master and the Fifth China Arts and Crafts Master in 1999 and 2006 respectively. It is rare in the country that both his father (Gong Yuwen) and his son were awarded the title of Master of Chinese Arts and Crafts. The "Honghou Tu" produced by Gong Daotong was collected by the National Museum in January 2007.