Among the handmade things Rongchang District in western Chongqing is famous for, 荣昌折扇 Róngchāng Zhéshàn — the Rongchang folding fan — is the one you can hold. Listed as a national intangible cultural heritage, it is a bamboo-and-paper fan built from dozens of jointed leaves, painted and polished by hand in old workshops that have kept the craft for generations.
The fan begins as a stand of mountain bamboo, split and shaped into the slender ribs that give a folding fan its skeleton. Rongchang makers are known for the number of leaves — fine examples carry more than a hundred jointed ribs fanning from a single pivot — and for the paper or silk leaves stretched across them, then painted with landscapes, birds, or calligraphic strokes. The whole object is light enough to forget in your hand, but the making is slow: each rib is cut, sanded, and riveted; each leaf is glued, dried, and finished so the fan opens with a clean snap and folds flat.
What makes the Rongchang fan worth seeking out is that it is still made the old way rather than stamped in a factory. In the workshops you can watch the bamboo being split thinner than a chopstick, the leaves being laid and pinned, and the finishing hands that round the pivot and smooth the edges. The best pieces balance — open they hang straight, close they lie flat — and the painting is the maker’s signature rather than a printed pattern. It is a craft that hides its difficulty: a good fan looks effortless and is anything but.
Like the district’s pottery and grass cloth, the folding fan is part of a living handicraft economy rather than a display case. A fan bought where it is made carries the weight of the hand that built it, and it folds small enough to tuck into a bag for the rest of a Chongqing trip.
Words and Names
荣昌折扇 Róngchāng Zhéshàn is the Rongchang folding fan. 竹 Zhú is bamboo, the fan’s rib material. 扇骨 Shàngǔ is the fan ribs or skeleton. 扇面 Shànmiàn is the fan leaf or painted surface. 非遗 Fēiyí is intangible cultural heritage.
What the Locals Know
The folding-fan workshops run through the year, and summer is both peak season for buyers and the best time to see leaves being painted and dried. Go on a weekday morning to watch the bamboo-splitting and assembly without a crowd. The craft area is reachable by local transport from Rongchang’s center; look for workshops with bamboo stacked at the door rather than only retail storefronts. Judge a fan by how it opens and closes — smooth and even is the sign of hand work done right — and don’t be shy about asking to see the leaves being made.
flowcloud would say that a Rongchang fan is a hundred jointed bamboo ribs you can fold flat and carry home. All checked October 2026.
Where to find it: In the fan-making workshops and craft areas within Rongchang District, Chongqing, alongside the district’s other heritage crafts. All checked October 2026.