CHINESE FANTradition · Art · Culture

Chinese Fan Gallery

A visual collection of traditional Chinese fans — open, folded, painted and carved — with details worth a second look.

Classical Chinese round silk fan with a painted scene

Section 01

Folding fans

The folding fan is the most photographed of all Chinese fans — a pleated leaf of paper or silk spread across bamboo ribs, made to be carried in a sleeve and opened with one hand.

Traditional Chinese folding fan with hand-painted flowers, fully open
A folding fan fully open, its painted leaf on bamboo ribs.
Chinese folding fan decorated with landscape painting and calligraphy
Landscape and calligraphy — the literati fan.
Folded Chinese fans with decorative silk tassels
Closed fans with silk tassels, ready for the sleeve.

Section 02

Round fans

The round fan (tuánshàn) is a circle of silk on a handle — the moon-shaped fan of palace women and poets, and the shape behind the longest fan tradition in Chinese art.

Classical Chinese round silk fan with a painted scene
A round silk fan with a painted scene.

Section 03

Details: ribs, tassels, paint

Look closely and a fan becomes a small world of craft — the ribs that must flex without cracking, the rivet that must turn smoothly, and the painted leaf that carries the message.

Close-up detail of Chinese fan ribs and painted leaf
Ribs and painted leaf, close up.

Section 04

Fan art close-ups

Fans were canvases. The close-ups below show the brushwork that turns a cooling tool into a work of art — ink, flowers and motifs painted by hand.

Chinese fan painting with ink brushwork
Ink brushwork on a fan leaf.
Hand-painted Chinese folding fan with floral motifs
Hand-painted flowers on a folding fan.

Keep exploring

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