Fanning a love of Chinese fans

From left: Fourth-generation master craftsman Huang Shuofu in his tuanshan fan studio; Students from a Thai international school learn to make Chinese tuanshan fans in Guilin city in November. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Tapping trends

"We need to keep up with new trends and incorporate these into the traditional elements as much as possible while retaining the original essence, to continue sharing this heritage with people at home and abroad," Huang said.

He added that the group has obtained more than 30 national patents and exported products to major overseas markets including South Korea, Japan and Singapore.

His daughter Huang Keren, 40, who helps run the family's business operations, such as its marketing and outreach, said daily production can hit 5,000 pieces, with about one-fifth of that amount for export.

Latest digital trends such as livestreaming have helped e-commerce make up a major part of the business, she said.

The guochao trend of recent years to showcase traditional Chinese cultural elements in a variety of fields such as clothing has also contributed significantly to growth, she said.

"Many of our customers include parents buying fans that showcase the best of Chinese traditional culture, like copies of famous paintings, poetry and calligraphy, for their children," she said, adding that mini DIY kits for their young customers to put together their own fans are also very popular.

Huang Shuofu said that, as part of his responsibility in passing down the intangible cultural heritage to future generations, he also runs workshops and classes for children and adults, as well as collaborations with cultural institutions like museums, to make sure the tuanshan tradition "survives and thrives".

Similarly, sustainable, green practices are a priority, he said, especially since his creations rely on natural bamboo as a major material.

"We minimize our waste and discard as little as possible," Huang said. "I recycle the bamboo strips, cloth, paper and try to come up with new ways to use them, such as for bookmarks, stationery and other smaller-sized, related products."

In line with sustainable, inclusive development, the tuanshan production also ropes in local rural communities.

For villager Zheng Ming, harvesting bamboo through cooperatives and other production channels to provide the raw material for Huang's fans in the past three decades has helped improve his family's previously subsistence livelihood in line with rural revitalization.

"We help provide 600,000 to 700,000 pieces of bamboo every year and our income has increased significantly, three to four times higher than before," said Zheng, who is in his 70s.

"We make our tuanshan here by blending tradition and innovation, protecting our heritage and promoting it together," Huang Shuofu said.