Hand fan
It also increases heat convection by displacing the warmer air produced by body heat that surrounds the skin, which has an additional cooling effect, provided that the ambient air temperature is lower than the skin temperature, which is typically about 33 °C (91 °F).
Egyptians viewed them as sacred objects, and the tomb of Tutankhamun contained two elaborate hand fans.
[5] They were also carriers of Chinese traditional arts and literature and were representative of its user's personal aesthetic sense and their social status.
It was suggested by the Cultural Relics Archaeology Institute of Hubei Province that these fans were made of either bamboo or feathers and were oftentimes used as burial objects in the State of Chu.
The most ancient ritual Chinese fan is the wumingshan, also known as zhangshan, which is believed to have been invented by Emperor Shun.
[7] While its shape evolved throughout the millennia, it remained used as a symbol of imperial power and authority; it continued to be used until the fall of the Qing dynasty.
[22][24] The earliest fans in Japan were made by tying thin stripes of hinoki (or Japanese cypress) together with thread.
In Japan, fans were variously used by warriors as a form of weapon, by actors and dancers for performances, and by children as a toy.
The slats, of ivory, bone, mica, mother of pearl, sandalwood, or tortoise shell, were carved and covered with paper or fabric.
These cultural factors also contributed to the creation of various types of hand fan in Korea.
According to the Vân Đài Loại Ngữ, a book written by Lê Quý Ðôn, in the old times Vietnamese people used hand fans made from bird feather and quạt bồ quỳ, a type of fan made from leaves of the taraw palm tree.
The folding fans only started appearing in Vietnam in the 10th century, known as quạt tập diệp in Vietnamese.
Christian missionary Christoforo Borri recorded that in 1621, both Vietnamese men and women frequently held hand fans as part of their daily garment.
The Quạt mo has the simplest design, cut directly from the dried Areca leaf stems, then pressed to flatten.
The quạt nan also has a simple design, made by sewing a half-moon shaped Maclurochloa leaf onto a straight bamboo stick.
Hand fans were absent from Europe during the High Middle Ages until they were reintroduced in the 13th and 14th centuries.
Fans from the Middle East were brought by Crusaders, and refugees from the Eastern Roman Empire.
[5][30]: 82 The Portuguese traders first opened up the sea route to China in the 15th century and reached Japan in the mid-16th century,[31]: 26 and appear to be the first people who introduced Oriental (Chinese and Japanese) fans in Europe which lead to their popularity, as well as the increased oriental fan imports in Europe.
In the 17th century the folding fan, and its attendant semiotic culture, were introduced from China and Japan.
However, despite the relative crude methods of construction, folding fans were at this era high status, exotic items on par with elaborate gloves as gifts to royalty.
The way the sticks sit close to each other, often with little or no space between them is one of the distinguishing characteristics of fans of this era.
This caused large scale immigration from France to the surrounding Protestant countries (such as England) of many fan craftsmen.
This dispersion in skill is reflected in the growing quality of many fans from these non-French countries after this date.
In the 18th century, fans reached a high degree of artistry and were being made throughout Europe often by specialized craftsmen, either in leaves or sticks.
They never reached the same level of popularity as the easy to carry around, folding fans which became almost an integrated part of women's dress.
The screen could be made out of silk stretched on a frame or thin wood, leather or papier mache.
During the 19th century names like the Birmingham-based firm of Jennens and Bettridge produced many papier-mâché fans.
A large group that continues to use folding hand fans for cultural and fashion use are drag queens.
Stemming from ideas of imitating and appropriating cultural ideas of excess, wealth, status and elegance, large folding hand fans, sometimes 12 inches (30 cm) or more in radius, are used to punctuate speech, as part of performances, or as accessories to an outfit.
Fans may have phrases taken from the lexicon of drag and LGBTQ+ culture written on them, and may be decorated in other ways, such as the addition of sequins or tassels.
