University of Virginia Library

I. Fans.

Wang Ch`ung speaks of fans in two places (Vol. II pp. 35 and 317),
calling them by the two different names which they have in Chinese:—
[OMITTED] shan and [OMITTED] sha. The dictionary Fang-yen [OMITTED] ascribed by many
to Yang Hsiung of the 1st century B.C. states that the expression shan was
in use in the regions west from the Pass, which probably means Tung-kuan
where the three provinces Shansi, Shensi, and Honan meet, and the expression
sha, east of it.[2075]

The Pên-tsao kang-mu infers from the character [OMITTED] that in ancient
times fans were made of feathers [OMITTED], and that only later on people also
used paper and bamboo for their fabrication, whence the combination with
[OMITTED] "bamboo" in the character [OMITTED]. The first conclusion seems to be
wrong, for the primary signification of [OMITTED] is not a fan, but the fold or
the leaf of a folding door, a "Thür-Flügel," "l'aile d'une porte." The
character is a logical aggregate [OMITTED] in which [OMITTED], not [OMITTED] is the chief
meaning.[2076] The meaning fan is a derivate. It is something resembling the
fold of a door in so far as it may be moved to and fro, and thereby causes wind.

In Chinese literature, and in the modern language the word [OMITTED] shan
is by far the commoner of the two.

The use of fans must have been common in China in the Chou dynasty,
for our literary evidence reaches to that period. We read in Kuan Tse
XIV, 9 r. about a prohibition of fans and straw hats.[2077] That would carry
us back to the 7th century B.C. Pao Pu Tse of the 4th century B.C. says
that as long as the wind does not abate, fans are of no use, and that
while the sun does not appear, candles cannot be extinguished[2078] Huai Nan

Tse XVIII, 16 r. compares certain people to those digging a well after a
fire and using a fan, while wearing a fur-coat.[2079] Tung Chung Shu (2nd cent.
B.C.) in his Ch`un-ch`iu fan-lu states that the dragon attracts rain, and that
the fan expels heat.[2080]

In poetry the fan has been sung of many a me, and the T`u-shu chi
ch`êng and other encyclopedias contain quite a collection of such poems.
The oldest and the best perhaps is the famous one on a silk fan round
as the full moon by Pan Ch`ieh Yü,[2081] aunt to the historian Pan Ku, who
himself wrote some fine verses on bamboo fans.[2082]

The material fans were made of was feathers, especially those of
pheasants, peacocks, kingfishers, swans, &c., bamboo splints, rush-leaves, palm-leaves,[2083]
silk, paper, bark, and ivory. I doubt whether the first fans were
really made of feathers as some authors maintain. A priori it is more
likely that the leaves of the fan-palm were first used as fans, and that artificial
fans came later.

Of the celebrated Chu Ko Liang it has been recorded that at a battle
he gave his signals with a fan of white feathers, and that his army advanced
or stopped accordingly.[2084]

Fans were often ornamented with precious things such as mother-ofpearl.
Chao Fei Yen, the successful rival of the afore-mentioned Pan Ch`ieh
Yü, who was raised to the rank of an empress by the Han emperor Ch`êng
Ti, is said to have been in possession of fans of mother-of-pearl, of kingfisher
feathers, and of peacock feathers.[2085]

Sometimes the handle of a fan was made of jade or precious stones.
In 477 A.D. the empress-dowager presented the vicious emperor Fei Ti or
Ts`ang Wu Wang of the Liu Sung dynasty, a mere boy, with a fan made
of feathers with a jade handle. The emperor was so much displeased
with this gift, because the feathers and the handle were not ornamented,
that he resolved to have the donor poisoned. He had already ordered
his chief physician to prepare the poison, when he was prevented by his
attendants from carrying out his wicked design.[2086]

Silk and paper fans were often inscribed with poetry, or some picture,
especially landscapes, was painted upon them. This custom prevails up to
the present day. Persons proficient in calligraphy are often requested by
their friends to write some lines on a fan. The Nan-shih relates a characteristic
anecdote:—Chêng Hsin, the son of Prince Hung of Lin-chuan, did
not study as a boy. He used to carry a white round fan. The Prince
of Hsiang-tung wrote eight characters on the fan making fun of its bearer,
who did not understand the meaning and used his fan as before.[2087]

The usual forms of fans were round like a disc, quadrangular, hexagonal,
or shaped like a wing. The people of Wu [OMITTED] are believed to have
been the first who cut off the wings of birds and used them as fans.

In some old sources the term [OMITTED] "waist fan" occurs, e. g. in the
History of the Southern Ch`i dynasty,[2088] 479-501 A.D. This seems to mean
a fan hung up at the girdle. Pfizmaier calls it a "Lendenfächer," a rather
clumsy expression. This fan cannot be a folding fan as some commentator
suggested, for in the 5th century folding fans were not yet known in China.

The common name for a folding fan is [OMITTED] chê-shan or [OMITTED]
[OMITTED] chê-tieh shan, a fan that may be folded together. Another name is
[OMITTED] sa-shan, a fan that may be opened. The old name is said to have
been [OMITTED] chü-t`ou-shan, a fan the heads of whose ribs may be joined
together. This variety of fan seems not to have been invented in China,
but to be of foreign origin. All authorities are unanimous in stating that
the Chinese first became acquainted with folding fans by a Korean embassy,
opinions differ only about the time.[2089] The [OMITTED] Yu-huan chi-wên,
a reliable source of the 13th century, records that in the 9th month of the
6th year Hsüan-ho = 1124, Korea sent two envoys Li Tse Tê and Chin Fu
Chê to the Chinese court, who at a private audience brought with them
three boxes of pine-wood fans and two folding fans.[2090] A verse of the
famous Su Tung P`o, 1036-1101, and some other poems of the same epoch
prove that from the beginning of the Sung dynasty in 960 A.D. folding fans
were at least known in China.

Su Tung P`o says that "the Korean fans of white pine wood, when
spread out, cover more than a foot, and folded up, they only measure two
fingers."[2091]

But though known, folding fans were not yet in vogue at this early
date, and it was not before the reign of the Ming emperor Yung Lo

(1403-1405) that their use became common, and they soon supplanted the
stiff fans. Yung Lo, delighted with the handiness of the fans, brought by
the Koreans as tribute, ordered Chinese artisans to imitate them. At first
it was not fashionable to use this new kind of fan, and only courtesans
liked to carry them, but after some time honest women also discarded the
round fan in favour of the more convenient folding fan.

It is mentioned that these folding fans are manufactured by the Japanese
likewise, who make the ribs of black bamboo and bespatter the paper
with gold. The author of the [OMITTED] Pêng-chuang hsü-lu tells us
that the foreign missionary Matteo Ricci [OMITTED] presented
him with four Japanese folding fans, measuring not more than a finger
when folded, very light, but strong and beautiful, and causing much wind.

In the first place the Chinese use their fans as we do for creating
a light draught to cool themselves, but they also employ them as shades,
holding them up towards the sun, and to protect themselves from wind
and dust. In China, not only women make use of fans, but even soldiers
and officers may be seen with them, and Europeans in China soon learn to
follow their example.

Fans are often given by friends as a present, notably those with
autographs or paintings by their own hand, a custom even followed by the
emperor who may honour some subject by the gift of a fan. Some instances
are given in the Yü-hai.[2092] The Yün-hsien tsa-chi[2093] mentions the fact
that the people of Loyang would at the dragon-boat festival present each
other with fans supposed to avert sickness.[2094]

At certain times the use of certain kinds of fans was forbidden by
sumptuary laws, or at least subject to some regulations. We learn that the
Han very much appreciated quadrangular bamboo fans,[2095] and that according
to their ordinances the emperor took a feather fan in summer, and a silk
fan in winter.[2096] The latter was probably merely decorative, whereas the
feather fan produces much wind. In the time of Han Wu Ti, princes and
marquises were not allowed to use fans made of pheasant feathers, and
all below a duke had to use round fans.[2097] In 402 A.D. the Chin emperor
An Ti forbade the use of silk fans and gambling.[2098]

There are some fan-like contrivances also called fans by the Chinese.
The Chou-li already mentions great State fans or flabelli, and so does the

Liki. They were used in the 10th century B.C. and they may still be seen
to-day especially at funeral processions. The Chinese name of these
flabelli is [OMITTED] sha. Couvreur has a drawing under this character. In ancient
times they were carried in one of the carriages of the empress to
protect her from wind and dust, and at funeral processions. In the Han
time they were made of a wooden frame, three feet broad and 2½ feet
high, and covered with a white stuff on which were embroidered clouds,
vapours, or hatchets. At the funeral of an emperor eight big fans were
used, for a great dignitary six, for a prefect four, and for a scholar two
(Tschcou Li par E. Biot Vol. II pp. 126, 232). The modern flabelli are made
of feathers, of painted cloth, or of wood and provided with a long stick.
They are carried by the side of a coffin or a princely carriage, and after
the funeral stuck into the ground round the grave.

The punkah, in Chinese [OMITTED] Fêng-shan "Wind fan," of which
the Europeans living in China make an extensive use, is not much appreciated
by the Chinese, who seldom have it in their houses. But some kind
of a punkah seems to have been known in China at a very early date.
We learn from the Hsi-ching tsa-chi, a work of the 6th century, that a clever
artisan of Chang-an connected seven fans shaped like big wheels, each
having a diameter of ten feet. When they were moved by a man, the
whole room became cool.[2099]

Another instance is given of a fan used for evaporating water and
thus reducing the hot temperature. In the house of a certain Wang Yuan
Pao there was a very strong skin fan. When during the hot season some
guest was invited to dinner, this fan was placed in front of his seat and
sprinkled with fresh water. Forthwith a cool breeze came up. As soon
as the guest, while the wine was circulating, looked refreshed, the fan
was removed. The emperor sent some officer to fetch this fan and have
a look at it, but, though it pleased him very much, he did not keep it.
He said that this fan was made of dragon skin.[2100]

This invention, now often used in our modern houses with radiators,
was not utilised by the Chinese either. It was one of those good ideas
they often had, but which they failed to develop and take advantage of.