Your Number One Fan

Because of the unique limestone mountains that surround Yangshuo, over the years it became a destination for artists of all types. Many of them stayed. Yangshuo developed a reputation as a haven for Chinese artists including fan painters. Today, the fan painting industry in Yangshuo is as robust as ever.

Late one afternoon the students and I had a opportunity to watch a master painter demonstrate his craft including the assembly of a completed fan. Then, we had a chance to try our hand at fan painting. Well, kind of. Cherry tree branches were already painted on the fan-shaped piece of paper. All the kids had to do was dip their sponge brushes into the orange-ish-pink paint and dab on their cherry blossom. Their fans turned out surprisingly well. We left them there overnight to dry.

I was offered a fan, a dish of paint, and a brush, but I turned them down. I was interested in a little more contemporary art form. I stood in the door way of this old, old building and took pictures of all the activity in the alleyway. This particular fan painting shop was off the beaten path and in a really old section of town. Out front was a paved passageway –I hesitate to call it a road- that could not have been more than seven or eight feet wide. But that did not stop a constant stream of people, animals and even a few motorized vehicles from making their way up and down this alley. I photographed every single one of them.

The next night at dinner, a delivery man dropped off our dried and fully assembled fans for each of the kids to take home.

-Jack