_FANS_
I say fans in the plural, because we have two kinds, the folding fan
and the round fan. We use the former during the mild seasons, and the
latter during the very hot weather. The reason of this is not easily
understood, as the round fan fans much less effectively than the other
one. Doubtless it offers this advantage—that it can be used as a
substitute for the parasol, which we never carry, and thus plays a double
part. I may add, that in summer men and women alike go out bareheaded, so
that some protection, such as is afforded by the screen fan, is needed.
As a general rule, there is a picture on one side of our fans, and
some writing on the other. Common folk buy their fans ready painted and
written upon, whereas people of fashion buy their fans blank, and ask
distinguished people to illustrate them with a painting or a piece of
writing. Some collectors possess hundreds of fans, which replace with us
the autograph albums that you have in Europe.
Fans are given as presents to one’s friends. They are always given by
schoolmasters as prizes to their scholars.
The folding fan has a varying number of stems. Women’s fans have
generally thirty thin stems. The most common are made of bamboo; the best
are made of ivory, betel, or sandal wood. They are carried in a case of
embroidered satin, which is fastened to the belt by a ring of jade. The
round fan is usually made of silk, with ivory or bamboo handles, the
prolongation of which is either hidden between a double mask of stuff,
or is visible on one side only. Ladies use them at play for catching
butterflies, or fireflies at night. On such occasions they fasten a
sachet of scent to the end of the handle, which scents the air as the fan
is moved.
The portrait of the fashionable poet of the day is always to be seen
painted on the fan; thus Lu-Fong Oun, the popular poet of the thirteenth
century, was surnamed Buddha of the Thousand Families, because his
portrait was to be seen everywhere, and because his light and graceful
verses could be understood by everybody. It is a very usual thing to
compare a friend to a fan, because of his refreshing influence on the
mind. A woman who fancies that her husband’s heart is hers no longer will
compare herself, as we shall see, to a fan cast aside in the autumn.
A favourite named Pan-Tie-Tsu, beloved at one time by Emperor
Hiao-Tcheng, seeing herself deserted, sent a fan to her master, on which
she had written the following lines:—
“I have just woven with my own hands this white silk,
White as the snow and as the ice.
I cut it to make a fan of it,
Round as the full moon is.
I would wish that it might be with you wherever you may go,
And that the air it gives you may, from time to time, refresh your
memory.
I foresee, however, that when autumn comes,
Or the cold weather shall reduce the heat of the day,
It will be cast aside into some box, and removed from the favour of
your Majesty,
Even as she is who gave it to you.”
Another woman, who had been disfigured by disease, sent her lover a fan,
on which she had written the four following lines:—
“Oh, the fan! Oh, the fan!
You serve to hide my unhappy face.
I am hideously ugly;
And I am ashamed to present myself before my lover.”
Besides these two kinds of fans, there is also the feather fan, which was
first made in the time of dynasty of the later Hans.
The Prime Minister, named Tsu-Kia-Liang, used this fan for all
his military commands. It was, in his hands, a substitute for the
field-marshal’s baton.
It is also said, that the first fan of this kind was introduced into
China by the King of Siam, who sent it, with other objects, by way of
tribute. But Tsu-Kia-Liang still, to-day, is represented with a feather
fan in his hand, the baton with which he directed the orchestra in the
symphony of the battle.
Betel leaves, cut into the shape of a fan, are also used in China. As
this dry leaf can neither be written nor painted upon, it is decorated
with engravings, either of pictures or of writing, which are traced upon
it by means of a lighted stick of incense. This delicate and difficult
work is generally done by women. Both leaves and incense come from
Formosa.
Another kind of fan is made in Canton. A bamboo stick is taken, of which
one end is left to serve as handle. The upper end is shredded into very
fine threads, which spread out into the shape of a lyre; silk is passed
over these, and the lower part of the lyre is consolidated with a piece
of curved wood, through a hole in which the handle passes. It is a very
pretty kind of fan, and wears very well indeed.
All these varieties are fancy articles. In ancient China, the round fan
alone was known; the folding fan has only been known since the last five
centuries. It was first presented by the Corean ambassadors to Emperor
Ung-Lo, of the Ming dynasty. The sovereign found it not only pretty, but
very convenient, and less troublesome to carry, and gave orders for the
manufacture of a large quantity, to be distributed amongst the officials
of his empire.
This is all that I consider it necessary to say about fans in China. It
may be found that I have used a great many words about very little. But
how can words be better used, since it was said of them by an ancient
Roman that they fly, than in speaking about winds and fans?
[Illustration]