Fans are more than just ways of cooling yourself on a hot summer day. Among the Chinese, fans are not only for practical uses, but are also considered works of art.
The Chinese fan is believed to have been invented during the Shang Dynasty (1600 BC - 1046 BC). These fans were made out of bird feathers. Fans in China were first used not as cooling tools: long-handled fans were used as a way to keep dust particles away from passengers of rickshaws. It was not until the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD) that fans were used by common people as a way to keep themselves cool in the summertime.
Fixed fans used as far back as the 1700 century BC. The Chinese word for fixed fans, "pien-mien," means "to agitate back and forth." The pien-mien was made out of a single thin piece of bamboo connected to a wooden handle. These fixed fans had intricately carved handles, and pictures of rural scenes and everyday life painted on one side of the fan. Pien-mien were used mostly as accessories for women, who partially covered their faces with it when they walk around in public.
The square-shaped pien mien was eventually replaced with a semi-circle shaped fan. These Chinese fans were usually made of silk. But at some points in Chinese history, emperors forbade their people to make silk fans: among them are Emperor Yuan Di (317-323 AD) and Emperor An Di (396-419 AD), who were faced with a shortage of silk. Fans made out of paper became popular at the time.
Simple fans made out of palm leaves were very popular among peasants. Most fans at the time were made out of feathers, paper, and silk, along with frames and handles made out of bamboo, ivory, lacquerware, and sandalwood. The most expensive ones were made out of mother-of-pearl. Feather fans were usually exported to other countries through trade routes.
Today, many people collect Chinese fans for decoration and as museum pieces. The beauty of Chinese fans still remain riveting, enchanting, and still take many who see them to know how it was like to live in ancient China.