扇子，最初只是夏天用来纳凉的实用品。在扇柄上，工匠会做一些简单的雕工，在扇面上，也会装饰一些书画。慢慢地，一些有才华的艺术家也加入到制扇工艺中来，于是，扇子被赋予越来越多的文化内涵，并从实用品演变成了艺术品，不断受到收藏家的欢迎。

Fans, as a simple tool for keeping cool in the summer, originally had nothing more than a basic decorative pattern carved on their stems. Gradually, over the centuries, they became sought-after as collectors’ items, after well-known artists began adding paintings and calligraphy to their bodies, which gave fans a cultural significance that had been absent before.

　　在扇子收藏中最主要的有两类——团扇和折扇。

Most of the fans that are popular among collectors are either the folding or the round type.

　　团扇产生的时间比较早，因为它的扇面大多是由丝织物制成的，所以又称为“纨扇”或“罗扇”。

The round fan, which is popularly known as the moon fan, was the original fan design. Initially, moon fans were mostly made of silk. Because of this, they also became known as “silk fans” or “silk gauze fans”.

　　折扇比团扇产生的时间要晚得多，但由于折扇携带方便，扇面可以题字、绘画，扇骨可以雕琢，所以从明代开始，逐渐受到文人雅士们的欢迎，成为他们社会角色的道具、身份地位的象征。许多名家书画扇面都成为传世的艺术品。

The folding fan appeared much later, but it quickly gained popularity thanks to its portability and its ability to accommodate calligraphy and paintings. Also, the stem permitted more carving work to be done. In the Ming Dynasty, a folding fan was an indispensable accessory for scholars that served as a sign of their social status and artistic taste. Many of these folding fans became rare collectors’ items among later generations.

　　扇子的原材料非常丰富，有竹、纸、丝织品、象牙、翡翠、飞禽的翎毛、麦秆、蒲草等。不同的材料和不同的制作工艺形成了种类繁多的中国扇子，其中比较有名的是四大名扇，即江苏的檀香扇、广东的火画扇、四川的竹丝扇和浙江的绫绢扇。

Fans can be made from any number of different materials; bamboo, paper, silk, ivory, jade, feathers, wheat straw and the stems or leaves of the cattail. The many different production techniques and materials have created a huge variety of Chinese fans, of which four are particularly famous; the sandalwood fan of Jiangsu, the “huohua” fan of Guangdong, the bamboo-slip fan of Sichuan, and the silk fan of Zhejiang.