Thursday, June 05, 2025

Before there were AirCons, there were fans

  Medievalist net has an article on fans: Mainly Chinese fans, which were flat. 

And yes these palm fans are mentioned (we have one hanging on our wall to use when the electricity is off).

A modern palmetto fan from southern China. Photo by WikiCantona / Wikimedia Commons

but what about those folding hand fans?

According to Wikipedia:

The folding fan (Chinese: 折扇), invented in Japan...In 988 AD, folding fans were first introduced in China by a Japanese monk from Japan as a tribute during the Northern Song dynasty; these folding fans became very fashionable in China by the Southern Song dynasty....
While the folding fans gained popularity, the traditional silk round fans continued to remain mainstream in the Song dynasty.   

 

,,,,

but folding fans have also been used as weapons. 



and fans are also used in the war of the sexes:


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