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English AbstractActually fans originate very early in Chinese history. From those bamboo fans found in the tombs of the War-Period and the West-Han dynasties, as well as those Chinese antique paintings, we know the developments and changes of Chinese fans can be traced back to a long time ago. But, the usage of round fans has a longer history. In the poems and essays of the Tang and Song dynasties, as well as the related documentary materials, round fans have been mentioned numerous times. However, folding fans became popular only after the Ming Dynasty. All of the four great artists of the Soochow School, Shen Thou, Wen Tzeng-ming, Tang Yin, Qiu Ying in the Ming, were the experts of fan paintings. Many fan works accomplished by them could be still found today. In the Ching Dynasty, folding fans became much more popular. Almost all artists, including royal or civil painters, were good at this kind of creative job. Because of their influence, various kinds of fan papers and fan bones were continuously renovated. New forms of fans were so prevailing in the market afterwards. When the Republic was founded, the modes and styles of Chinese art were also succeeded. Folding fans were even more popular in the art society. The famous painters in the northern China such as Qi Bai-shi, Wang Xue-tao, Jin Cheng, Liu Kui-ling, Chen Shao-mei, Wu Chang-shuo and other artists in Shanghai area, and those masters of the Lin-nan School Gao Jian-fu, Gao Qi-feng and Chen Shu-jen were all both interested in and good at fan paintings. The later artists such as Wu Hu-fan, Zhang Da-qian, Pu Ru, and those renowned actors in Chinese opera could also grasp the nuances of fan paintings. The heritage and traditions of fan paintings were therefore kept well without any disruptions. Since 1949, because of the change of life style, the influence of western culture and the transfer of art trends, fan painting was on the wane. It was no more the main form of art. However, the Mainland China’s and Hong Kong’s art markets in recent years showed that the fan paintings were so welcome and could even break the records of hammer price. Fan paintings indeed attracted the attention of art markets again. Oriented by profits, fake fan paintings appeared constantly in auctions and some other art markets. Thus the means and methods of judging and evaluating fan paintings become much more important than ever. After the founding of the Republic, the main achievement about fan art has lied in the folding fans. And round fans, once popular in the Tang and Song dynasties, have become secondary in terms of art forms. Since so many outstanding artists found in the field of the fan production and bone carving of the folding fans, a list of the active bone carvers in the first part of 20th century was made herewith for reference. As an appendix, after a careful checking with the related art books and auction catalogues, another list of the artists painting fans was also prepared orderly by their birth years. In terms of the structure of folding fans, fan papers and fan bones are the two main parts of folding fans. Other than those precious bamboo materials such as Shan-fei and Mei-loo, ivory, tortoiseshell, some high quality woods can be also used for the fan bones. Different skills of carving were applied to fan bones. Those skills were mentioned respectively for comparison and analysis. With regard to fan papers, gold leaves were often used in the Ming Dynasty. In the era of the Republic, though gold leaves were no longer popular, all these related products such as mud-gold, body-gold, spot-gold, cold-gold, piece-gold, rain-gold could be widely seen in paper shops. Since so many scholars with various views on this aspect, a clarification is not only essential but also necessary to be made in this paper for your easy reference. The creative work of fan paintings, however, has not only one face for appreciation, while poems, calligraphy and seals have also playing a role. The positions and contents of the artists’ signatures and relevant wordings in folding fans are also crucial for making a successful visual expression and impression. There are at least more than sixteen ways of doing it and seven of them can be often found in fan paintings. A list of such was made for your information. Strictly speaking, no big improvements in the fields of the fan material production or skills of visual language were made in the Republic period. But the following respects worth your notice:1. The appearance of colllective fans: usually there are four or eight parts of a piece of fan paper divided equally both for painting and calligraphy.2. The increase of collaborated fan paintings: fan painting’s space is quite limited. In fact, the form of one painting matching with one calligraphy has already demonstrated a kind of cooperation. The appearance of collective fans has further fostered the joint efforts of fan artists, which could be attributed to the increase of art groups after the founding of the Republic. 3. The emerge of opera fans: in the beginning of the Republic era, the actors of the opera companies were used to learn Chinese ink painting with famous artists such as Qi Bai-shi, Wang Xue-tao, Wang Meng-bai, Yao Mong-fu, etc. Among those opera actors Jeng Miao-shan, Chen Yen-chiu, Shan Shao-yun, Shun Hui-sen, Yu Tzen-fei, Ma Lien-lan, Yen Ju-peng, Hwang Kui-qiu were found very good at fan paintings. The name of opera fans therefore became more famous.Talking about the collecting folding fans, various methods of keeping Chinese fans are listed. The problems for collection room as temperature, humidity, moisture, sunlight, and biological factors are also discussed for the purpose of highlighting the importance of environments. Finally, not only the problems of fake fan painting and the methods of judging them are discussed but how to increase the ability of appreciating fans are also suggested.
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