China fan culture can be traced back to remote antiquity. During the hot summer, the ancestor casually get plant-leaf or birds feathers to process a simple way of keeping themselves from the suns light and drawing natural wind, this is the fan origin. Through the continous developement over thousands years, the fan has had hundreds of varieties. Some of these styles are, the elegant white paper fan, famous and precious black paper fan, beautiful silk fan, graceful dancing fan, as well as the cheap and fine sandalwood fan. The shapes covering the fan, besides round, include oblate, square, plum blossom and many others.
Xihan dynasty, created the symmetrical "Hehuan fan" (mandarin fan, round silk fan), with the traditional round shape. It featured: white coloring in the thin silk which equalize around the fan ribs made of bamboo, similiar to the moon. At that time, the mandarin fan from the central plains was the most exquisite one. It was made of Shangdong silk and Hunan bamboo. During the Han dynasty, these fans were very popular, lots of poets wrote poems on them. Since this kind of symmetrical fan-shape appreared, it has been used from generation to generation continously, becoming our traditional style fan-shape. The distinguishing feature for this fan: symmetry, light, and strong technology.
The Folding fan, in ancient times called "Jutou fan", well-known for its two endings, can be put together when drawing. During Nansong dynasty, large scale production had begun. The Folding fan was in vogue in the Ming dynasty era. The emperor ordered craftsmen to copy the Gaoli fan, and to introduce craft from abroad, promoting home fan development. Ming dynasty and Qing dynasty were periods of great prosperity for the folding fan. They used expesive ivory, hawksbill turtle for the ribs of the fan; exquisite workmanship; carving pattern on the ribs; variable fan head, square-head, round-head and bottle-shaped, Different artistic forms showed on the ribs and were well received by the people. A special designation appeared on the covering of the fan by skilled craftsmen careful layouts, displaying magical lingering charm. The special material of the fan covering, provided a good place for artist's drawings and writings which were left for generations to treasure. For example, the picture "Reading under pine" in the fan, drawn by Ming dynasty emperor, Zhangji zhu is regarded as a rare treasure.
Nansong dynasty, produced fans on a much larger scale. Different areas produce different types of fans, forming a respective unique style. Some famous fan styles are, Hangzhou fan, Sichuan fan, Shuzhou fan, Yuezhou fan etc. Among them, the Hangzhou fan is the most famous one.
Nowdays, The China fan, which contains a long-history, consummate skill, widely different function, and elegant interest has been exported all over the world.