Export fans

Among the many old export items from China, the fan is viewed as a special product that blended Eastern and Western cultural elements. Canton Export Fans, an exhibition now underway at Chengdu Museum in Southwest China's Sichuan province, shows beautiful fans shipped from South China's Guangdong province to clients mostly in Europe and North America in the 18th and 19th centuries. There are folding, round and rectangular fans made of paper, cloth and sandalwood, sometimes inlaid with shells or attached with wood carvings. Some fans were painted with Chinese landscapes and life scenes, opening for the users in the West a window to the East, its cultures and artisanship. Some other fans were ordered to depict Western motifs that exposed Chinese people to different cultures far away. The exhibited fans are from the Guangdong Museum, and on display until March 31.

9 am-8:30 pm, closed on Mondays. 1 Xiaohe Street, Qingyang district, Chengdu, Sichuan province.028-6827-7011.