Tuan Shan Fans

• Tuan Shan fans are one of the three most famous fans in China, but they did not originate in China, but rather through Japanese culture. Made from silk, Tuan Shan fans can be round, square or rectangular, and they do not typically fold. Men and women both used this type of fan until the Ming Dynasty, when they became exclusively a women's fashion accessory. Fan makers used different materials to craft their fans, according to what was available during their times. During the Jing dynasty, the emperor forbade the use of silk to create fans, causing a silk shortage in the country. These fans had spokes made of bamboo with silk wrapped around them.
  
  

Zhe Shang Fans

• Zhe Shan are foldable fans mostly featuring designs using a calligraphy pen. This type of fan also originated in Japan and became popular in China in the 11th century. Paintings on folding fans are a well-respected art form in China, according to Patricia Williams, a curator and professor at University of Wisconsin. She adds that people used the fans and valued them, so they had the paintings mounted as album leaves and collected them as art.
  
  

Rongchang Fans

• According to Chen Zifu, a fan artist from a Rongchang County craftsman's family, Rongchang folding fans are considered "intangible cultural heritages" by the Chinese because they were a royal tribute article in the Ming Dynasty, easily foldable and made with excellent craftsmanship. Rongchang fans typically display light colors, fine materials, and fan producers delicately hand-make them.
  
  

Fan Decoration

• Some Chinese fans even have precious stones embedded into them, which also serve as decoration and as a status symbol. Others have gold plating or even solid gold pieces indicating a higher class among Chinese. The most common way of designing fans, however, is the use of a calligraphy pen to write or draw on the face of the fan.