The Fan in Chinese Martial Arts:
Tradition and Modern Adaptation

The sudden snap of an opening fan has become a familiar sound at Taijiquan demonstrations, tournaments, and group exercise classes. Fan forms are now practiced throughout China and around the world, often accompanied by music and performed with brightly colored silk fans. Although they appear thoroughly traditional, most of the routines practiced today are modern adaptations rather than forms inherited from the early generations of the internal martial arts.

Image licensed from Fotolia and used for our Spring 2020 cover design.

Fans have a genuine place in Chinese martial culture. The folding fan, or zhéshàn 折扇, became particularly fashionable during the Ming and Qing dynasties. A strongly constructed fan could be used for personal defense. When closed, it functioned much like a short stick, capable of striking the hands, face, throat, or other vulnerable areas. It could also be used to press joints, release a grip, or assist in trapping an opponent’s arm. When opened, the fan might distract an attacker, obscure his vision, or conceal the movement of the other hand.

Stories of the tiěshàn 鐵扇, or “iron fan,” gave the weapon a more formidable reputation. Some fans may have been reinforced with metal ribs or guards, but the heavy iron fans depicted in popular entertainment were probably much less common than fiction suggests.

Chinese opera and later wuxia novels and films helped transform the fan into an elegant and mysterious weapon. On the opera stage, the fan could indicate a character’s social position, temperament, or intentions. A scholar might handle it with refinement, while a disguised fighter could suddenly turn the same object into a weapon. Wuxia writers expanded this image, making the fan a favorite of sophisticated martial artists whose pleasant appearance concealed exceptional skill.

Fan routines are not prominent in the documented early curricula of Taijiquan, Baguazhang, or Xingyiquan. Their principal weapons were the sword, saber, spear, and staff, together with various specialized weapons preserved in particular lineages. Some later Baguazhang and other traditional schools developed fan methods, but there is little evidence that fan forms were taught by the founding generations of the major internal systems.

Many contemporary fan routines resemble sword forms because the two implements lend themselves to similar choreography. Sweeping cuts, thrusts, circles, and changes of direction can be transferred easily from the straight sword to the fan. Opening and closing actions are then added to take advantage of the fan’s distinctive character. The loud snap provides rhythm and an audible expression of energy, particularly effective in synchronized demonstrations.

The modern popularity of Taiji fan practice owes much to Professor Li Deyin and the creation of the Taiji Kung Fu Fan. The routine was developed at the beginning of the twenty-first century through the Beijing Senior Citizens Sports Association in support of Beijing’s campaign to host the 2008 Olympic Games. In February 2001, a large public performance brought together 2,008 older practitioners. The routine combined Taijiquan with movements from other martial arts, Chinese opera, dance, and expressive fan techniques, all performed to contemporary music.

Its success encouraged the creation of numerous Yang-style, Chen-style, Wudang, double-fan, competition, and health-oriented routines. These forms may not possess the antiquity sometimes attributed to them, but that does not make them without value. A thoughtfully constructed fan form can cultivate coordination, balance, flexibility, rhythm, and awareness of intention. It also demonstrates that Chinese martial arts remain a living tradition, capable of preserving older principles while finding attractive new forms of expression.