Female Artist Paints on Folding Fans

Zhao Pingjia， a woman artist from Wangxingji Fan Factory in Hangzhou， is the first folk artist in Hangzhou invited to demonstrate her art to visitors at World Expo Shanghai 2010. She showed her art at the China Pavilion for a month.

Everyday there she worked at a table in a corner; beside her were a few display cabinets on which her fans were displayed. Many people wanted to buy the fans on display， but none was for sale. She invited people to visit Hangzhou and visit Wangxingji. Her task was more than showing off her art. She was there to promote Hangzhou by showing off one artistic aspect of the legendary city.

She painted the scenery and celebrities of Hangzhou on her fans at the world expo Shanghai. Her favorite painting highlights the whole processing procedure of Dragon Well Tea. She says her art is all about the folding fans of Hangzhou， which is the representative of China’s fan culture. She hopes the fans would bring Hangzhou convincingly to the whole world.

Some visitors did not believe at first sight that beautiful sceneries on folding fans were manually painted. Zhao showed them by demonstrating her amazing art on the spot and explaining the art to visitors.

During the whole month， Zhao Pingjia worked hard at Zhejiang Pavilion. She shuttled everyday between the world expo site and the hotel. She enjoyed the hectic aura of the expo through her quiet mindset. Over all these decades， she has experienced the same surge by sitting quietly in her studio， totally engaged in her art and oblivious to the outside world changing rapidly.

Over the past 30 years， dozens of people came to study under her guidance. Most of them quit， allured by outside excitement or thwarted by lack of dedication.

Born in 1957， Zhao Pingjia is a Hangzhou native. As a girl she loved painting. A great uncle on her mother’s side was a well known artist in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). He painted on furniture， a custom in Fujian， Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces where families made painted and carved furniture as dowry for their daughters. Zhao Pingjia’s family still has a carved bed once used by her grandmother. Probably her passion for art started with the ornately carved bridal bed.

In 1970， the 13-year-old Zhao Pingjia met with Zhou Changgu， a professor with Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts， the predecessor of present-day China Academy of Art in Hangzhou. The young budding artist met more established artists at the academy and attended some special training courses. When the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) came to the end， the 20-year-old Zhao was employed by Wangxingji， a time-honored factory of arts and crafts in Hangzhou， thus starting her career as a professional painter.

At the factory she learned how to paint on fans. With her passion， dedication and talent， she has become a master painter and calligrapher. Moreover， she has innovated and introduced new ideas into her art.

Though most of her apprentices quit， her daughter You Xiaoting has stepped up to inherit her mother’s art. You Xiaoting grew up with a passion for art. She majored in the environmental arts at China Academy of Art. After graduation， she worked for a while on environmental art before she gave up the well-paid job and turned to learning her mother’s fan painting. She is now an experienced fan-painting artist. The daughter believes that it is important to add new elements into this tradition of her hometown. She has even tried to introduce some cartoon elements into the traditional art. She created a set of fan paintings with gold. The fan paintings portray scenes of the four Chinese ancient novels. At an exhibition of the West Lake Expo， the young artist’s creations on folding fans caused a sensation.

The World Expo Shanghai was not Zhao Pingjia’s first sensational performance. In 1999， Zhao Pingjia visited Paris as a representative artist of fan painting attending 1999 Paris-China Culture Week. Her performances and her fan paintings caused a sensation. Fascinated by a painting made with gold and colors entitled “Immortals Come to Birthday Celebration”， a visitor wanted to buy the masterpiece. With no intention to sell， Zhao said 30，000 Francs， meaning to frighten the would-be purchaser away. Unexpectedly the visitor said okay without hesitation. After several rounds of negotiation， Zhao Pingjia had to sell another masterpiece to the admirer.

Zhao Pingjia is both proud and regretful about the selling. She is proud because she knows her art was greatly appreciated. She is regretful because she still feels the pain of waving goodbye to her masterpiece.

With the arrangement of the Hangzhou Municipal Government， Zhao Pingjia now uses a space at Hefang Street in Hangzhou. The space， located at the big tourism destination， serves as both her studio and her gallery. She can work and display her works there. She confirms that the city government leads the country in preserving folk arts. She is happy with the government’s endeavors， but she worries about the future of folk arts in general and the fan painting in particular. It is partly her responsibility to let more Chinese people know and understand the traditional art so that hopefully some people would be willing to carry it on to the future.□