Fan Making Craftsmanship

Ⅷ-81Traditional CraftsmanshipRongchang, ChongqingBatch 2 (2008)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

In the Han dynasty, silk-leaf fans were popular at court, also called 'palace fans.' In the Southern Song period, the capital Hangzhou became a center of folding fans, and Shanzi Lane near Hefang Street was where the fan workshops of the day clustered. In the Yongle years of the Ming dynasty, Suzhou became a center of folding fans, and famous fan-makers known throughout the land such as Li Zhao and Ma Xun emerged. The bamboo-splint silk fan of Zigong, Sichuan, was created by the famous fan-maker Gong Juewu during the Guangxu years of the Qing dynasty, and is thus called the 'Gong fan,' its face resembling held silk gauze. The Rongchang folding fan began in the Northern Song period; by the Jiajing reign of the Ming, the Rongchang folding fan was already presented to the court as a tribute. In the Guangxu years of the Qing dynasty, Rongchang's folding-fan manufacture reached its zenith, with over two hundred specialized fan shops in the county seat, more than two thousand production workers, and an annual output of four million assorted folding fans. In the Republican period, the Rongchang folding fan was sold far to Southeast Asia and Europe.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The history of fan-making in China is very long; as early as the Shang dynasty there appeared feather fans made of the tail feathers of the long-tailed pheasant. In the Eastern Jin period, the cattail-leaf fan began to be popular. The folding fan was anciently called the 'folded fan,' also the 'opened fan'; folded it closes, opened it spreads, and when spread the leaf forms a half-round (circular) shape, gathered at both head and tail, hence also the 'gathered-head fan.' China's fan products are mainly produced in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Sichuan, and Guangdong, and include paper folding fans, sandalwood fans, feather fans (Huzhou, Zhejiang), silk fans, wheat-straw plaited fans (Pujiang, Zhejiang), ivory fans, bamboo-splint fans, cattail-leaf fans (Xinhui, Guangdong), and peacock-plume dance fans, among many varieties. Among them, the ribs of folding fans are best made of brown bamboo, mottled bamboo (Xiangfei bamboo), or ebony, some adorned with bamboo carving; the leaf is pasted from mulberry-bark paper and the like, with famous calligraphers and painters inscribing poems and painting on it, the saying being that a small piece surpasses a large one. Some folding fans are further fitted with embroidered fan cases. The Hangzhou Wang Xingji Fan Shop is known for making black paper fans, the leaves brushed with persimmon lacquer so they are impermeable to rain and do not warp in sun-a beauty summed up as 'a fan is half an umbrella'-and its craft has been passed down through generations to this day. Small pendants such as tassels, silk knots, or jade and peach-pit carvings are hung beneath the handle, swaying gracefully. Sandalwood fans and cattail-leaf fans often bear pyrography on the leaf, with shades light and dark and clear layers. From this it can be seen that fan-making is a comprehensive traditional manual craft integrating carving, painting, calligraphy, weaving, knotting, mounting, lacquering, and bamboo weaving, of high artistic value. With the change in social life, people now commonly use air conditioning or electric fans in the height of summer, causing a sharp drop in demand for fans. Rongchang County lies in the west of Chongqing Municipality, and folding-fan manufacturing is highly developed in its Changyuan Township. The Rongchang folding fan, opening to spread and folding to close, is refined and elegant, handsome and practical, small and exquisite, and easy to carry, and has long been beloved by people. In recent years, while inheriting and carrying forward the traditional manual craft, the fan-makers of Rongchang have striven to develop new techniques; the products have grown from the original five major categories and 154 kinds-zhengzong, quannan, pidi, yingqing, and chuanzi-to ten major categories, with over three hundred new pattern kinds added such as all-brown, sandalwood, and feather, of which the traditional black paper fan and brown-bamboo fan are most distinctive. The Rongchang folding-fan craft combines techniques such as dyeing, gluing, painting, carving, and inlaying, and is broadly divided into 16 work stages and 145 operational process steps.

Archival process record

The Rongchang folding-fan craft combines techniques such as dyeing, gluing, painting, carving, and inlaying, and is broadly divided into 16 work stages and 145 operational process steps.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The Rongchang folding fan is centered on Rongchang County, Chongqing, and belongs, with the Gong fan of Zigong, Sichuan, and the oiled-paper fan of Luzhou, to the southwestern fan industry; Rongchang has since ancient times been the eastern gateway of Sichuan, with busy boat traffic and a thriving cotton-textile trade, and its folding fans sold throughout eastern Sichuan and as far as Yunnan and Guizhou. The ribs of the Rongchang folding fan are mostly made of local bamboo, and the leaf is mostly mounted with bark paper, so it is lighter than the Jiangnan folding fan.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

At present many famous fan-makers have passed away one after another; some fan-making crafts such as the Suzhou folding-fan rib technique are on the verge of being lost, and the related rescue and protection work is urgent. Contemporary celebrated calligraphers and painters such as Guo Moruo and Zhang Daqian repeatedly inscribed and painted for the Rongchang folding fan, raising its cultural grade and adding to its artistic and collectible value. Because of the scarcity of raw and auxiliary materials, coupled with insufficient skilled talent and low market prices, the production of the Rongchang folding fan has fallen into difficulty, and both the traditional black paper fan and the brown-bamboo fan are in danger of ceasing production. The Rongchang folding-fan craft is already in an endangered state and urgently awaits rescue and protection. Chen Zifu (per the official archival record of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born December 1948, a native of Chongqing. Representative inheritor of the third batch of the national-level intangible cultural heritage item 'Fan-making Craft (Rongchang Folding Fan).' Senior arts-and-crafts master, Chongqing municipal arts-and-crafts master. He entered the Rongchang Folding Fan Factory in 1962 and apprenticed to the fan-maker Hu Jishan; during this time he learned rib lacquer-carving from the master Liu Hanqing and rib shaping from Cai Junliang. He excels at rib carving, rib pyrography, rib shaping, threading the leaf, and leaf painting. In 1996 he founded the Songzhuxuan Fan Shop in Rongchang County to inherit and promote the Rongchang folding-fan art, and developed the grass-cloth folding fan and grass-cloth fan painting. His works have repeatedly won national and municipal grand prizes. The bamboo-case grass-cloth fan won a gold medal at the First China Tourism Souvenir Design Competition sponsored by the National Tourism Administration, and is collected by the China Fan Art Museum.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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