Can Fans be Weapons in Martial Arts? (Intermediate)

Fan is an instrument for producing a current of air and people use it to keep cool in hot summers. But do you know that fans can also be weapons in martial arts?

In many Chinese martial arts novels and dramas, “扇子 (shànzi) fans” are used as weapons. A chivalrous person can defeat many enemies with only a small fan. As this video shows, two foreigners use fans as weapons to fight each other. Besides, they play the fans quite “漂亮 (piàoliang) beautifully” showing a great charm of the Chinese Kung-Fu. In ancient times, scholars also liked fans. They loved to write words and paint on their fans to show their Chinese writing and painting skills.

Fans in China have a rich cultural heritage and are a part of the national Chinese culture. China was once named as “the kingdom of fans.” There were a large variety of fans in ancient China. But what were really loved by the collectors were only folding fans and round fans. Now there are four groups of people who like to use fans the most. The first group is the story tellers and cross talkers. The second group is the chess players. The scholars and the artists represent the third group. The last group is the dancers (fan dancing).

Key Learning Points:

扇子 (shànzi): n fan

Examples:

Shàn wénhuà shì Zhōngguó wénhuà zhī yī.
1.   扇     文化     是     中国         文化    之 一。

Fan culture is part of the Chinese culture.

Zài xiàtiān, rénmen yòng shànzi shānfēng jiàngwēn.
2.  在   夏天， 人们      用      扇子     扇风       降温。

People often use fans to keep cool in summer.

漂亮 (piàoliàng): adj beautiful

1. “漂亮 (piàoliang) beautiful” is used as adjective.

A: Tā shì yígè piàoliang de gūniang.
她 是  一个   漂亮      的    姑娘。

She is a beautiful girl.

B: Wǒ rènshí de nǚháizi dōu hěn piàoliang de.
我    认识 的 女孩子 都   很     漂亮       的。

All the girls I know are beautiful.

Note: Please pay attention to the different usages of “beautiful” in the above sentences. Though they both function as adjectives, they are different. The first “beautiful” we call an attributive adjective, and the second one is a predicative adjective.

2. “漂亮 (piàoliang) beautiful” is used as complement.

Tā zǒngshì dǎbàn dé hěn piàoliang.
1).  她   总是      打扮    得  很     漂亮。

She always dresses herself up beautifully.

Zuótiān, nǐmen nàge qiú jìn de hěn piàoliang.
2).   昨天， 你们 那个   球  进  得   很   漂亮。

Yesterday, you shot a beautiful goal!

Chinese Culture

General Chinese (Beginner Level)

General Chinese (Intermediate Level)