Types of Traditional Chinese Fans

Section 01

The folding fan (zhéshàn)

The Chinese folding fan is the collapsible pleated fan — bamboo or wooden ribs, a paper or silk leaf, and a single rivet that lets the whole fan fold flat. It is the type most associated with scholars, painting and calligraphy, and the one Western collectors usually mean by “Chinese fan.”

It appeared at the Chinese court through tribute and trade from Japan and Korea, then became the signature accessory of Ming and Qing literati, who kept it in the sleeve and painted on it like a tiny scroll.

Section 02

The round fan (tuánshàn)

The Chinese round fan is a fixed circular fan, typically silk or gauze stretched over a frame and mounted on a handle. Its shape is a moon, and in Chinese it is simply tuánshàn (团扇), “round fan.”

Round fans were the dominant court fan from the Han through the Tang dynasties, carried by palace women and painted with flowers, birds and figures. The Han poet Ban Jieyu wrote the most famous poem about one — comparing herself to a silk fan that may be put away when summer ends.

Section 03

Paper, silk, bamboo and feather fans

Beyond shape, Chinese fans are described by material, and each material page covers its own tradition:

• Paper fans — light, affordable leaves, printed or painted; the everyday folding fan.
• Silk fans — soft, luminous surfaces, hand-painted and often round.
• Bamboo fans — the classic rib material, prized for spring and durability.
• Feather fans — ceremonial and operatic, from goose feathers and crane feathers.

Section 04

Ritual and ceremonial fans

Not every Chinese fan is meant to cool. The ceremonial fan, zhǎngshàn (掌扇), is a large fan on a long handle, carried in pairs beside an emperor or in ritual processions — a visual statement of rank rather than a tool for air. Feather fans also served ritual and military imagery: the strategist Zhuge Liang is inseparable from the goose-feather fan he waved while planning campaigns.

These ceremonial uses feed directly into Chinese fan traditions of gift-giving, dance and opera. See Chinese fan traditions for how fans behave in ritual and performance.

Section 05

How types changed across dynasties

The long view — from ritual feathers to the scholar's folding fan — is told in the history of Chinese fans.

Section 06

How to choose a type for yourself

• Daily cooling — a palm-leaf fan or a simple paper folding fan.
• Gift — a folding fan with a symbolic motif, matched to the recipient.
• Dance or performance — silk round fans, which read beautifully on stage.
• Collecting — antique, sandalwood or finely carved fans.
• First fan — a paper folding fan: cheap, forgiving and easy to open.

For occasions, our Chinese fan gift guide matches fans to weddings, festivals and birthdays; for the decision process itself, start with how to choose a Chinese folding fan.

Section 07

Frequently asked questions