Wood fans maintains an ancient tradition

If you have never seen a fan-making workshop, you would be surprised at what a demanding craft it is.

A middle-aged woman is using a bamboo bow to carve flowers and patterns on a sandalwood folding fan. The iron wire bowstring pierces the thin wood periodically. It takes one-and-a-half months to make just three quality fans.

"It will be much easier and faster to carve using a machine but the patterns wouldn't be so fine and smooth," said Sun Yaowen, deputy general manager of Suzhou Sandalwood Fan Co.

With air conditioners and electric fans so popular today, they have brought a crisis to the centuries-old craft of fan making.

Sun and his colleagues are struggling hard to survive.

"There were about 680 workers at my company before 2004. Now only 35 are left," Sun said.

"When we were at our peak during the 1980s and 1990s, our factory used to make 10,000 fans a day. Can you imagine that?" he said.

Demand from Japanese and Chinese markets was very strong at that time. One machine-made sandalwood fan sold for 100 yuan ($15.87) for export, equal to the price of an electric fan.

The old workshops are now in a spacious plant located in the quiet old city of Suzhou in East China's Jiangsu province. It is almost empty bar the few surviving employees toiling away. "We do not need such a large output now," Sun said.

They see their way forward by offering exquisitely crafted handmade fans. As the place of origin of China's southern-style fans, the ones from Suzhou are elegant in appearance but time-consuming to make. Learning to carve the wood, for example, takes at least three years. However, the finest fans can only be fashioned by masters with at least 10 years of experience. Each one costs 35,000 yuan.

"When market demand shrank, we tried to make the business work by targeting high-end customers," Sun said, noting that although home use of fans is decreasing, more people are buying them as souvenirs and gifts, treating them as objets d'art.

Last year, they had revenues of 7.5 million yuan, which is not bad for a company with only 35 employees.

But a new crisis has struck with the price of sandalwood rocketing in the Chinese market. In 2004, sandalwood sold for 500,000 yuan a ton in the timber market. Now real sandalwood is rare and it costs 12 million yuan a ton, Sun said.

The reason is that India, the source of the fragrant wood, has listed the tree as endangered and strictly limited sales.

Sun said they are now using other kinds of wood to replace sandalwood for common products but still accept a few tailor-made orders, by using existing stocks of sandalwood. The price is still very high, he noted.

Sun and his colleagues at Suzhou Sandalwood Fan Co have managed to survive so far and are trying hard to make progress in an era in which fans are no longer one of life's necessities.

Some people are exploring other ways for the development of this ancient industry. On Xibei (literally northwest) Street, where Sun's company is located, several fan shops are in business under the name of "studio".

Wang Jian, a 49-year-old Suzhou native, is the most successful of them. His two-room workshop is well decorated with traditional Chinese furniture, tea sets, potted orchids and, most importantly, his work.

As a most notable figure in current China's fan making circle, Wang is an expert of making paper-folding fans in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) style. People offer tens of thousands of yuan to get a fan made by him, but few get their wishes granted.

"I do not make many fans now. I am more interested in repairing old fans. If they are good ones, I do not charge a penny to repair them," he said.

As an avid fan maker, Wang's biggest wish is to continue the techniques and tastes of Ming Dynasty fans. He said by admiring and repairing ancient fans, he better understands the skills of the ancient masters. More importantly, he feels the "smell" of the ancient fans.

Fan making can be traced back 2,000 years. Wang believes it reached its peak between 1368 and 1644, when the framework was at its most delicate, the painting and calligraphy were the most elegant and the functions and shapes were the most diversified, he said.

"It is impossible to reach that level nowadays but I try my best to get close to it," he said.

The complicated construction process and demanding standards Wang insists upon make it impossible to mass produce.

The bamboos need to be stored for eight years before being used in the framework so that weak or cracked ones can be picked out. The rice paper should be carefully selected and painted with a special paint formula to ensure good permeability of water and high strength. Wang and his apprentice mainly make fans in spring and autumn when, at 20 degrees Celsius, the temperature is optimal.

Because of his ideals and low output, it is impossible to serve ordinary customers. The few he makes each year are mostly to order or snapped up by artists and collectors.

The turnover, however, is not low: A Ming Dynasty-style gold-painted paper-folding fan is worth more than 60,000 yuan.

"The gold painted fan technique was passed down from generation to generation by only one family in Suzhou city since the Ming Dynasty," Wang said, adding he is devoted to keeping the traditional techniques alive.

When he left his former employer, Suzhou Fan Factory, in 2000, Wang did not expect his own business would thrive. The factory relocated due to lack of orders. As a fan maker who started to learn the craft when he was 18, Wang knows little except how to make fans.

"Making fans is the only thing that I am capable of and interested in. And I want to make the real beautiful Chinese fans, not rough ones," he said.

In a society in which industrial production has destroyed almost all handicraft businesses, Wang is evidence it is still possible to preserve some ancient skills while making considerable profits.

"Usually, people believe that only older people like fans. But I can tell you that more and more young people are also interested in this art form," said Jiang Xiaoming, 35, who organizes an informal association of fan collectors in Suzhou.