On hot summer days, fans can cool people. But fans are also works of art. With poems and/or drawings on them, fans are highly decorative. Paintings on fans hold a certain position among traditional Chinese paintings. Many famous Chinese calligraphers and/or painters liked to write words and/or draw pictures on fans. As a result, they left many masterpieces.
In ancient times, fans were used more often than they are today. So, there are many ancient dramas and novels that have
fans as their subjects. In them, the fan is a token of love, a symbol of status, or a tool for expressing people's moods and emotions. The Peach Blossom Fan, by Kong Shangren (1648-1718), is the most famous of those works. The play-and later the movie adapted from it-is very popular. Through a fan, with a blood drawing of peach blossoms, a moving story is told about a patriotic singer, Li Xiangjun, and a scholar, Hou Fangyu, during the transition from the Ming Dyansty (1368-1644) to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).
