What Is a Chinese Fan Called?

Section 01

Shàn: the word behind every fan

The everyday Mandarin word for a Chinese fan is shànzi (扇子). The single character 扇 (shàn) already means “fan,” and its shape tells an old story: it is built from 户 (hù), a door, and 羽 (yǔ), a feather — a feather fan by a doorway. The same character is also a verb, shān, meaning “to fan” or “to wave,” so the language itself treats fanning and the fan as one idea.

English speakers usually say “Chinese fan” or “Chinese hand fan,” but Chinese names are more precise: they describe the fan's shape. Once you know that folding fans are zhéshàn, round fans tuánshàn and feather fans yǔshàn, the vocabulary practically explains itself. A general introduction is in our guide to what a Chinese fan is.

Section 02

Zhéshàn — the folding fan

Zhéshàn (折扇) means “folded fan” — 折 (zhé) is the verb “to fold.” This is the collapsible pleated fan of bamboo ribs and paper or silk leaf that scholars kept in their sleeves, earning it the literary nickname 怀袖雅物 (huáixiù yǎwù), “a refined object for the sleeve.”

The Chinese folding fan is the type most people picture when they hear “Chinese fan,” and in English the terms are used interchangeably with “pleated fan.”

Section 03

Tuánshàn — the round fan

Tuánshàn (团扇) means “round fan” — 团 (tuán) is a circle or a round group. These are the fixed, circular fans, usually covered in silk or gauze and mounted on a handle, that appear constantly in Chinese painting of palace women from the Han dynasty onward.

A white-silk round fan is also called a wánshàn (纨扇), after 纨 (wán), fine white silk. The most famous early poem about a fan, written by the Han court lady Ban Jieyu, is precisely about a round silk fan. For the full story, see Chinese round fans.

Section 04

Yǔshàn — the feather fan

Yǔshàn (羽扇) is the feather fan — 羽 (yǔ) means feather. The best-known version is the goose-feather fan, é máo shàn (鹅毛扇), made famous by the strategist Zhuge Liang, who is almost always painted calmly waving one.

Feather fans read as ceremonial or strategic rather than everyday, which is why they appear in opera, ritual and portraits of generals. Learn more in our guide to Chinese feather fans.

Section 05

Regional and literary names

Beyond the big three, Chinese has a shelf of specific names — most of them just “fan” plus the material:

Literary Chinese also calls the folding fan 怀袖雅物 (“a refined object for the sleeve”), and classical texts use poetic terms such as 凉友 (liángyǒu, “cool friend”) for a fan in summer. The material pages — silk, bamboo, paper — each add the vocabulary of their own craft.

Section 06

Frequently asked questions