How Many Ways Can You Use A Hand Fan?

Doing this piece on Korean fans - no, not the kind who go after Kpop stars, but the hand-crafted ones as some Korean friends gave me a few beautiful ones recently. Plus,  summer seems the appropriate season to feature them.

Started drawing up a list of the ways in which Koreans have used fans and guess what? The number of  functions have now hit twenty! Let me count the ways, beginning with the traditional uses in terms of personal comfort as indicated in description of the “eight virtues” of the hand-held  fans :

1. Naturally they kept people cool in the summer heat. But how many people, in these days of battery-powered mini-fans, still use such eco-friendly devices?

2. The fan was also handy, not so much as a fly swatter, but to discourage insects from hovering around. Again, it was much greener than spraying insecticide.

3. Koreans working outdoors could also block off the sun rays by holding the fan to shade their eyes.

4. Instead of dirtying their hanbok when they had to sit on the ground to watch an outdoor performance, they sat on the open fan as a cushion.

5. It  protected the hair when the rustic folk had to bear large burdens of firewood etc on their heads.

The remaining three 'virtues' revolve around the domestic scene:

6. The fan acted as an  improvised cover for an open container
7. It was employed to fan hearth or kitchen fires
8. It could serve as a replacement for  a dustpan ?!

9. Sometimes, housewives used the fans to help them to sort out grains. ( though this wasn't included among the 8 virtues. )

However, fans served other important functions during the Joseon Dynasty.

10.  They were status symbols. Members of the royal family had the privilege of owning large fans which had 50 spokes. Fans flaunted by the yangban or aristocratic class were made of the finest quality paper and bamboo and decorated with precious metals or gemstones like amber or jade but they couldn't carry fans with more than 40 spokes. Ordinary folks had to be satisfied with poorer quality fans with much fewer spokes.

11.Fans were also significant to shamans ( mudang). The Shaman's Fan Painting (Songsubuchae) below has a fan within a fan. The female shaman on the right is holding a fan used for rituals as it has a "picture of the Sambul trinity who govern childbirth, life, and agriculture".  In one Korean dance, the performer who takes on the role of the mudang "captures the awakened souls with bu chae (fans) so they can rejoice with her and ease their suffering".

12. Pansori singers used the fan for dramatic effect while court performers entertained with the graceful fan dance or the buchaechum.

13. Artists would elevated the prestige of some fans when they showcased their skills in painting, calligraphy or composing poems. Such fans then were displayed as decorationns in the home.

14. Fans, of course, have long  been used as fashion accessories by ladies.

15. But they could also hide heir faces in genuine modesty or embarrassment or coyness. No doubt the kisaengs of the past practised the art of seduction by fluttering their lashes behind their fans.

16.  Fans were also bestowed as state gifts on foreign dignitaries.

17.  Ironically, some fans were used for far less diplomatic purposes - steel fans were once weapons  of stealth when the people were not allowed to bear swords in public. The art of making secret compartments which held razor blades or poisons must be a dying or dead art by now.

18 At the same time, a person skilled in martial arts could deflect knives and defend himself with a sturdy fan.

19. In these more commercial times, fans are curiosities recalling the past, reduced mostly to tourist souvenirs.

20. Finally, it has been adopted as a city symbol for Jeonju which still has a number of craftsmen who maintain this

sources:
http://alittlebirdietoldmeso.blogspot.com/2008_08_01_archive.htmlhttp://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/6668206
http://www.koreanartandantiques.com/items/803314/item803314store.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Korean.Dance-Buchaechum-01.jpg
http://www.worldartswest.org/main/edf_performer.asp?i=2
http://www.koreanpress.net/news/view.asp?idx=2171&msection=1&ssection=3
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2923236

http://www.antiquealive.com/masters/Hand_Fans/Korean_Paper_Bamboo_Fan.html
 http://www.koreana.or.kr/months/news_view.asp?b_idx=703&lang=en&page_type=list
 http://weaponhouse.blogspot.com/2009/10/mu-puche-korean-fan.html
http://www.visitkorea.or.kr/ena/SH/whatToBuy/whatToBuy.jsp?action=item&cid=996013
http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?menu=c10400&no=220218&rel_no=1
http://www.mfms2010.org/sub0903.php

City of Love or City of Songs About Love?

There has been a human settlement on the banks of the Yeocheon River in this corner of Jeollabuk-do even before the Baekje Period and since King Gyeongdeok named it Namwon in 757 A.D., it has retained its name for almost 1,300 years. No mean feat and given its position in the history and culture of the country, I can’t understand why it isn’t given more prominence by KNTO. While it doesn’t have the architectural attractions of Gyeongju, I feel it still deserves at least one page on the KNTO website instead of simply a page dedicated to its annual Chunhyang Festival ( held in early May).

Whatever buildings of historic significance were probably decimated during the Imjin War when the town was besieged in 1597. Imagine 56,000 Japanese surrounding this town occupied by only 3,300 Korean and Chinese soldiers and 6000 women and children. Almost the entire population was wiped out in this invasion and Gwanghallu was also totally destroyed and had to be reconstructed much later. I suppose so little of the old town remained to warrant a museum dedicated to the memory of pre-invasion Namwon. All that's there to remind us of its past is one stone monument, one tomb and one small section of the wall surrounding Namwon Castle.

The Namwon Tourism Promotion Commission seems to have decided that romance is the way to go in selling the city as a tourist destination. Namwon has declared itself “the City of Love” on its promotional brochures but at the same time, sells itself as the birthplace of some of its most famous pansori compositions such as Chunhyang-jeon, Heungbu-jeon ( on brotherly love) and Song of Byeon-Gang-Soe ( on erotic love). Trouble is, there isn’t enough translation work done to make the exhibits in the National Center for Traditional Performing Arts accessible to those who can’t understand Korean.

There were booths where I could stand and listen to extracts of pansori performances but I didn’t understand what I was hearing and there wasn’t much in terms of explanation or elaboration. Perhaps there isn’t enough interest among tourists to warrant the expense and effort to offer lengthy descriptions in English. There were also free pansori performances offered on certain evenings ( third Tuesday between April and June, 7 pm) and afternoons ( second and fourth Saturdays) but unfortunately for me, I was at the place at the wrong day and time.

Click here for the official website of Namwon.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namwon
http://asiaenglish.visitkorea.or.kr/ena/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=860612
http://asiaenglish.visitkorea.or.kr/ena/SI/SI_EN_3_2_1.jsp?cid=697200
http://en.namwon.go.kr/en/sub2/index.jsp?page_gubun=page1_4
Tourist brochure produced by the Namwon Tourism Promotion Commission ( 2007)

The Unique Art of Pansori, Part 1