Quick Answer: What Is a Hangzhou Folding Fan?
A Hangzhou folding fan (杭州折扇, Hángzhōu zhéshàn) spreads a pleated leaf across ribs that turn on a shared pin. The city’s Wangxingji shop is especially associated with black mulberry bark paper treated with a persimmon-based coating. Hangzhou makers also work with other paper, wood and silk formats. [1][2][3][4]
- Ribs: Thin inner ribs open from one pivot between two wider outer guards.
- Leaf: Pleats guide the paper as it folds into a narrow stack.
- Surface: A black or pale fan leaf can carry a painted image, lettering or gold-colored decoration. [1][2][4][5]
Look at the folded end as well as the open face. The end shows how the thickness of the ribs and leaf has been balanced.
A folding fan makes a compact stack when shut and a curved surface when open. Both forms are planned together. A detail that feels small on the open fan, such as the thickness of a rib near its tip, changes how the full stack closes.
Ribs, Guards and the Fold
The black paper fan process recorded for Wangxingji starts with the ribs. The documented inner ribs are shaved to stay thickest near the pivot and thin out toward their tips. That gives the paper room in the closed stack. The two outer guards are wider and protect the folded leaf. The ribs are checked and shaped before the leaf is fitted. [2]
The workshop description distinguishes ribs of moso bamboo and ribs of zōngzhú (棕竹), a palm with slender canes. After shaping, the maker fits and creases the paper so the ribs and folds move together. Check the folded fan edge-on. If the rib tips were as thick as their bases, the added paper would make the outer end of the stack flare. [2][3][7]
Why the Paper Is Black
The Hangzhou Arts and Crafts Museum identifies the leaf as mulberry bark paper. It describes persimmon preparation in the work of pasting the leaf and again as an ingredient in the dark coating. The workshop account describes brushing the exposed ridges several times before coating the whole face. Those are the folds most exposed to wear. [1][2][3]
Those stages help explain the deep color across the opened fan. The ridges remain visible in raking light. Hangzhou sources compare the black paper fan to half an umbrella. The saying refers to the coated paper’s reputation for shedding water. [1][2][3][4]
The Fan as a Surface for Painting and Calligraphy
A fan leaf gives an artist a curved outer margin and a narrow inner arc. The marks also cross folds that change how they catch light. On a dark fan, gold-colored lines can pick out fine details. A pale face can show the changing density of ink in an image or in Chinese calligraphy. [1][2][5]
A national heritage feature records that Chen Ying, Wang Xingzhai’s wife, applied cut ornament and scattered gold on black paper fans. It also describes Du Juan, who joined the Wangxingji workshop in 1979 and specialized in writing very small regular script on fan surfaces. One type of decoration can be read across the whole fan. Very small characters ask the viewer to look close at individual parts of the surface. [8]
Hangzhou’s Shulianji shop was known for gold-decorated fans. A 2025 exhibition at its Zhongshan Middle Road location brought together twelve artists and showed the continuing use of fan surfaces for small paintings and calligraphy. The exhibition included both paper and silk examples. [5]
Hangzhou’s Fan Shops and Workshops Today
The Hangzhou Municipal Archives dates Wang Xingzhai’s shop to 1875 in Qinghefang. The shop’s documented range included black and white paper fans, sandalwood fans and silk fans. A customer could choose among several materials. The curved black leaf and its finish were distinctive within that range. [2][4]
In June 2025, children visited the Wangxingji Fan Museum, watched work in the workshop and tried a simplified exercise on a plain fan. The visit let them see ribs and paper take shape in the workshop before trying a task on an assembled fan. [6]
FAQs About Hangzhou Folding Fans
What gives a Hangzhou black paper fan its color?
The traditional black paper fan uses mulberry bark paper and a dark surface coating prepared with a persimmon-based ingredient. Repeated coats give the leaf its deep color. [1][2][3]
Are the ribs always made of bamboo?
Workshop records name both moso bamboo and zongzhu palm among the materials for black paper fan ribs. Other Hangzhou fan styles also use wood, including sandalwood. [2][3][4][7]
When was Wangxingji fan making nationally listed?
Wangxingji fan making joined China’s national intangible cultural heritage list in 2008 as an extension of the fan-making entry. [1]
Sumber
[1] China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network. Fan Making: Wangxingji Fans
[2] Ministry of Commerce, Time-Honored Brands Digital Museum. Wangxingji Fan Making
[3] Hangzhou Arts and Crafts Museum. Fans in the Museum’s Craft Classroom
[4] Hangzhou Municipal Archives. Wangxingji Fans
[5] Yu Xiwen, City Express. Fan Exhibition on Zhongshan Middle Road
[6] Gao Mingzhen, Hangzhou Net. Wangxingji Fan Museum Teaching Program
[7] Flora of China, Chinese edition. Zongzhu, Rhapis excelsa
[8] China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network. Traditional Fan Makers and Their Work