When did folding fans begin and which country invented them?

The origin of folding fan is as follows:

1, originated from the Eastern Jin Dynasty:

Funny stories of fans, the source and flow of fans, etc. It is believed that fans originated in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

Because folding fans were later called "benevolence", some people thought that what Xie An gave here was folding fans. But there is not enough evidence from the text to prove that this is a folding fan.

2, from the southern and northern dynasties said:

There is also a view that folding fans appeared in the Southern and Northern Dynasties.

Wang Xuetao's "Painting Fan" wrote: "There were folding fans in the Southern Qi Dynasty, and calligraphy and painting on folding fans were created in the early Southern Song Dynasty." Yesterday's Fan said, "It was introduced to China in the Southern and Northern Dynasties." However, there is no strong evidence for Hu Sansheng to judge that "the waist fan is attached to the waist" during this period, so Hu Sansheng's statement is questionable.

The name of "waist fan" does not mean "wearing around the waist", but refers to its narrow shape in the middle and wide at both ends. It is a fan with a waist in the middle. Scholars who are good at textual research in Qing Dynasty also found this problem.

3, from the Tang and Five Dynasties:

In the Ming Dynasty, He's Yi Bu Tan Zi said that Sichuan fans "tasted everywhere in the Five Dynasties", while China Custom Dictionary thought that "folding fans" originated in the Five Dynasties. "Funny things about fans" wrote, "During the Tang and Song Dynasties, the newly made folding fans were still very rough and difficult to popularize." It is considered that "five generations have folding fans".

Extended data:

Folding fan history:

There are many kinds of fans. From the point of view of folding, fans can be divided into screen fans and folding fans. The former existed in primitive society. The folding fan with relatively complicated manufacturing process did not appear very early in China.

The most commonly used name of folding fan in Song Dynasty is "folding fan", which is only an extension and evolution of the early name "folding fan". Even in the Song Dynasty, folding fans still had many names, which were not uniform.

For example, Volume 29 of Koryo Tujing is called folding fan, Volume 13 of Meng Lianglu is called folding fan, and Return to Heart Miscellaneous Knowledge is called gathering fan, and the others are called gathering head fan and gathering bone fan.

According to "In the Garden Magazine", Wan Fan was the earliest fan used in ancient China. As for the folding fan used by modern people, it is also called spreading fan. Emperor Yongle liked this kind of fan for its comfort and convenience. Later, it came from the court and soon became popular all over the country and was widely used.

According to the History of Song Dynasty, on February 8th, the year of Duan AD (988), Japanese monk Jiayin visited Song Taizong in Bianjing (now Kaifeng, Henan) and presented 22 pavilion fans and two bat fans as precious gifts. This fan and bat fan refer to folding fans.

At first, the Ming Palace only used bamboo bones and cocoon paper to fold fans. Later, the imperial court customized it and made more folding fans to present to the imperial court every year. This kind of folding fan, on the one hand, orders the bachelor to write poems and make sentences, on the other hand, lets the painters in the Academy draw pictures. It is scheduled to be presented on May 1 day of the lunar calendar every year, so that the emperor can distribute it to concubines and maids on the Dragon Boat Festival on May 5.

This folding fan and nail hinge eyeliner are all pure gold, and each fan is worth hardware. This practice prevailed in the court of the Ming Dynasty. Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty began to dominate the folding fan trend. He ordered the Ministry of Internal Affairs to make a large number of poems and songs on fans and distribute them to ministers. At that time, folding fans were expensive and became a fashion. Scholars learn to exchange poems and folding fans to express friendship and other meanings.

Holding a folding fan became a symbol of elegance in life at that time. Once the folding fan is popular, it will last forever. In the Qing Dynasty, folding fans were everywhere, which was very popular for a while and was suspected of flooding. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were many celebrities in Jiangnan area, and folding fans were produced here. Their romantic talent is closely related to folding fans.

The cultural atmosphere of Jiangnan water town they created is full of tenderness and beauty. Through the medium of folding fan, it spreads in palaces, mansions, boudoir, folk and overseas. Folding fans are also worth a hundred times because of these beautiful paintings.

Moreover, fans love to follow the fashion, carve pictures on their bones and faces, and take names from heroines in novels like A Dream of Red Mansions, which makes orthodox scholars feel rude and criticized by some people.

This was in the middle of Qing Dynasty. In addition, Xiangzu Notes also records that during Chenghua and Hongzhi years of Ming Dynasty, the best fans in Nanjing were Li Zhao, Li Zhi and Jiang Cheng.

A folding fan and two pictures. One side is history, and the other side is reality. One side of painting and calligraphy, the other side may be blank, leaving it for future generations to think and fill. The role of folding fans in attracting the wind and enjoying the cool is far less straightforward than that of cattail fans, but both round fans and folding fans are progress on the practical basis and decorations to beautify life.

It is a luxury that hangs on the waist of the times. We are in an era when folding fans are bound to be forgotten. The folding fan was picked up again, which broke away from the original intention of the fan style and became a completely emotional or cultural thing. Today, folding fans have become folding fans in China.

A folding fan and two pictures. One side is history, and the other side is reality. One side of painting and calligraphy, the other side may be blank, leaving it for future generations to think and fill. Folding fan is an ornament to beautify life. It is a luxury that hangs on the waist of the times. Folding fan has long been divorced from its original intention of fanning the wind and has become a completely emotional or cultural thing.

Baidu encyclopedia-folding fan