Liu Zhengwen
01 · Lineage & Regional School
Liu Zhengwen, Male, Han, from Yueyangshiyueyang, Hunan, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Fan Making Craftsmanship (Ⅷ-81). The tradition is documented in Yueyangshiyueyang, Hunan. Within the regional tradition and school record of Fan Making Craftsmanship in Yueyangshiyueyang, Hunan: Its main distribution areas are Yuetian Town, Maotian Town, Gongtian Town, and Zhangguying Town in Yueyang County. Yuezhou fan products include folding fans, round fans, painting-and-calligraphy fans, plantain (palm-leaf) fans, feather fans, and large hall hanging fans, depicting Yueyang's famous mountains, waters, towers, people, and literary works; among them the folding fan is the largest category, and the finished folding fan has a shuttle-like shape—tight at the mouth, slender at the tail, and bulging in the middle—with pronounced regional characteristics. This indicates that by at least the Ming dynasty, the Yuezhou fan-making craft—characterized chiefly by multi-rib folding fans—had already reached a fairly superb level of refinement.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
The bearer record for Liu Zhengwen is anchored in the documented technical standards of Fan Making Craftsmanship in Yueyangshiyueyang, Hunan. Within the documented technical tradition of Fan Making Craftsmanship in Yueyangshiyueyang, Hunan: The Yuezhou fan-making craft is a traditional handicraft transmitted through generations in Yueyang County and its surrounding areas in Yueyang City, Hunan Province; it takes its name from the fact that Yueyang formerly belonged to the 'Yuezhou Prefecture.' Yueyang County lies in the northeast of Hunan Province, on the eastern shore of Dongting Lake, in a middle-and-low latitude area of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, with distinct seasons, moderate heat, and abundant rainfall, providing superior natural conditions for the growth of more than ten species of bamboo such as Phyllostachys pubescens (nanzhu) and Fenghuang bamboo. The nanzhu produced in Yueyang has slender internodes and is an excellent material for making fan ribs. The Yuezhou fan-making craft uses nanzhu for the ribs, ox horn for the rivets, and xuan paper for the leaf; the materials are carefully selected and the craftsmanship rigorous. The craft is divided into two major procedures—rib making and leaf making—and includes seventy-two process steps such as cutting the tube, splitting the slats, pushing-green on the edge ribs, pushing-green on the small ribs, mounting the edge ribs, trimming the edges, polishing, drilling, wall-pressing, band-gripping, through-riveting, and leaf attachment. Among these, rib making and shaping are the most skill-demanding key steps of the Yuezhou fan; they must go through multiple processes such as sawing, splitting, planing, filing, boiling, and sunning. In making them one must have the complete bamboo formed in the mind, with heart and hand in accord, each step tightly linked, and polished with care; the polished fan is as warm and smooth as jade and as even as agate. The Yuezhou fan-making craft has a long history; the 'Gazetteer of Yuezhou Prefecture · Treatise on Food and Goods' of the Longqing reign of the Ming dynasty records: 'There are local products… fans (many ribs yet light).' The Yuezhou fan-making craft is the fruit of the creative summation by working people in long-term making practice; its long history is of fairly important significance to the study of fan culture. The Yuezhou fan-making craft is rigorous and complex, its materials carefully chosen, its leaf materials exquisite, and its varieties novel and numerous; coupled with inscriptions and paintings by famous artists on the fans, it possesses high artistic appreciation value. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "": "Archival Record of Craft Procedures": The craft is divided into two major procedures—rib making and leaf making—and includes seventy-two process steps such as cutting the tube, splitting the slats, pushing-green on the edge ribs, pushing-green on the small ribs, mounting the edge ribs, trimming the edges, polishing, drilling, wall-pressing, band-gripping, through-riveting, and leaf attachment.
Archival Record of Craft Procedures
The craft is divided into two major procedures—rib making and leaf making—and includes seventy-two process steps such as cutting the tube, splitting the slats, pushing-green on the edge ribs, pushing-green on the small ribs, mounting the edge ribs, trimming the edges, polishing, drilling, wall-pressing, band-gripping, through-riveting, and leaf attachment. Among these, rib making and shaping are the most skill-demanding key steps of the Yuezhou fan; they must go through multiple processes such as sawing, splitting, planing, filing, boiling, and sunning. In making them one must have the complete bamboo formed in the mind, with heart and hand in accord, each step tightly linked, and polished with care; the polished fan is as warm and smooth as jade and as even as agate.
Core Technique I
The Yuezhou fan-making craft is a traditional handicraft transmitted through generations in Yueyang County and its surrounding areas in Yueyang City, Hunan Province;
Core Technique II
it takes its name from the fact that Yueyang formerly belonged to the 'Yuezhou Prefecture.' Yueyang County lies in the northeast of Hunan Province, on the eastern shore of Dongting Lake, in a middle-and-low latitude area of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, with distinct seasons, moderate heat, and abundant rainfall, providing superior natural conditions for the growth of more than ten species of bamboo such as Phyllostachys pubescens (nanzhu) and Fenghuang bamboo.
Core Technique III
The nanzhu produced in Yueyang has slender internodes and is an excellent material for making fan ribs.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
In 2025, Liu Zhengwen was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Fan Making Craftsmanship, with Yueyangshiyueyang, Hunan as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Fan Making Craftsmanship in Yueyangshiyueyang, Hunan: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2021 (batch 5), with Yueyangshiyueyang, Hunan as its declared area, and Yueyang County Cultural Center as its safeguarding unit. Since the project was inscribed in the national inventory, its declared area and safeguarding unit have carried out documentation, transmission and presentation within the national safeguarding framework. Together, the inventory record and the project archive form the public documentary basis for the bearer’s transmission practice.
04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier
Historical origin
This indicates that by at least the Ming dynasty, the Yuezhou fan-making craft—characterized chiefly by multi-rib folding fans—had already reached a fairly superb level of refinement.
05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage
National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.
| Bearer | Declared area | Roster code | Relation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Xu Yilin | Suzhou, Jiangsu | 01-0193 | Other regional school |
| Chen Zifu | Rongchang, Chongqing | 03-1339 | Other regional school |
| Xing Weizhong | Suzhou, Jiangsu | 04-1864 | Other regional school |
| Sun Yaqing | Hangzhou, Zhejiang | 05-2777 | Other regional school |
| Wang Mingde | Xuanchengshiguangde, Anhui | — | Other regional school |
| Liu Zhengwen | Yueyangshiyueyang, Hunan | — | This page |
06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript. Compiled from official national representative bearer archival records and the associated project dossier, organized by topic and translated into English. 阅读中文版。