A pilgrimage of creativity

Another highlight of the arts and culture week is a set of fans made by Wang Jian, also a Suzhou native, a provincial-level inheritor of intangible cultural heritage. Historical literature shows that the craft of fan making developed in the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), and the accessory became very popular among the literati during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Men of letters considered fans a status symbol.

Wang agrees that fan making－involving making the frame and covering and carving it－is an intricate art.

"A craftsman usually perfects only one craft, since it is too difficult for one person to master all. For example, making the cover contains three major steps, and one needs to learn each for about three years," Wang says. "Moreover, one must put their whole heart into one craft. I learned how to make fans over the course of 20 years, and I mainly work on making the frame and designing the covering now, requiring others to help me complete the fan."

He started learning the craft at the age of 16, when he worked at a factory making fans in 1981. He gets inspiration wherever he goes. He recalls that once he went to a beach, and collected shells and made them a part of a fan.