Chinese authorities are at variance concerning the invention of the fan, which has been attributed to the Emperor Hsien Yüan, B.C. 2697; to the Emperor Shun, B.C. 2255, and to the first ruler of the Chou dynasty, B.C. 1122. According to a Chinese legend, it had its origin at the Feast of Lanterns, where, on an occasion when the heat became particularly oppressive, the beautiful daughter of a mandarin took off her mask, and agitated it so as to fan the air into a gentle breeze; the rest of the fair revellers were so much struck with the grace of the motion that they one and all let fall their masks and followed the example of the mandarin’s daughter. The earliest fans were of the dyed feathers of various birds, and those of the peacock. We have an account of a present of two fans of feathers of ‘tsio rouge,’ offered to the Emperor Tchao-wang of the Chou dynasty, B.C. 1052, by the King of Thou-sieou, and it is affirmed in the ‘Tchéou-li’ that one of the chariots of the empress carried a feather-fan for the purpose of keeping the wheels free from dust. The poet Thou-fou, in the ‘Song of Autumn,’ refers to fans of pheasants’ feathers as in royal use. The Emperor Kao-Tsong, of the Chang dynasty, 1323-1266 B.C., having heard the cry of the pheasant, an omen of good luck, resolved thenceforth to use only fans composed of the tail feathers of this bird. [Illustration: Chinese Fan, paper mount, painted, with medallion of The Visit, stick silver-gilt filigree & enamel, 18th Cent. Mr M. Tomkinson.] These have continued in the service of royalty to a late period. A wing-shaped example, set laterally in a red lacquered handle, appearing in the hand of an attendant, in a fine painted roll, by Ch’in Ying of the Ming dynasty, illustrating the occupations of Court ladies, the larger feathers numbering seven, this being the sacred number composing the fan, which is the attribute of Chung-li Ch’uan, one of the eight Taoist Immortals, the seven broad feathers corresponding to the constellation of seven stars on the left of the moon (Great Bear), the seat in the Taoist heavens of their supreme deity, Shang Ti, round whom all the other star gods circulate in homage. This fan is illustrated on the large lacquered screen at the Victoria and Albert Museum, representing the Taoist Genii worshipping the god of Longevity, and constantly figures in pictorial and other representations. [Illustration: FROM A PAINTED ROLL OF MING DYNASTY (British Museum.)] Similar fans with several rows of pointed feathers appear in painted and decorative work; a curious example being seen in a large drawing from Tonkin (Louvre). The outer row of feathers, white and pale blue; the second, yellow; the third, those of the peacock; the body of the fan, green, red, white, and blue.