China Fan Museum
Fan collection housed in the iron-trussed sheds of a once-bankrupt nineteenth-century cotton mill.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the China Fan Museum in Hangzhou starts under the iron roof trusses of what was once a mechanized cotton mill, built in 1889 by merchants from Nanxun and Hangzhou betting on steam-driven looms. It follows the mill through its first bankruptcy in 1902, its rescue by Li Jingfang, son of statesman Li Hongzhang, and decades spinning cotton and weaving towels before a second collapse in 1999 shut the looms for good. Inside the surviving brick sheds you'll meet the Wangxingji workshop's black lacquered fans, made waterproof enough to sell on the street beside umbrellas. Look up at the iron columns built to carry spinning machines, not glass display cases.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Qiaoxi History Jiequ
Riverside industrial quarter of restored brick mills and warehouses along a historic canal wharf.
China Umbrella Museum
Canal-side hall tracing umbrellas from ancient bronze finials to wedding parasols and folk craft.
Hangzhou Arts and Crafts Museum
Cluster of craft galleries where a scissors trademark war and imperial tribute shaped a three-century brand.
Dajing Alley
Narrow historic lane lined with a Qing-dynasty pharmacy hall built by a merchant banker before his spectacular financial ruin.
Xiaohe Straight Street History Protect Block
Canal-side lanes of salvaged timber shopfronts rebuilt shell-first over new concrete and plumbing.
Huqing Yutang Chin. Medicine Msm.
Qing-dynasty pharmacy hall and camphor-wood counters behind an honesty plaque written by its own bankrupted founder.