Yuyao straw fan

There is a folk custom of weaving straw fans. After barley is harvested in May of the lunar calendar every year, the top nodes of slender white wheat straw are selected and cut and arranged into bundles. After rice washing, steaming, bleaching and other processes, the wheat straw becomes white and tough. The women worked skillfully on the edge of the corridor and knitted them into fan strips. When it reaches a proper length, sew the fan strips into a round sector, commonly known as "fan cake". After several sectors are made, the outer ring of the sector is inlaid with toothed braids dyed with various colors, with small round embroidery as the fan core in the middle, and the outer ring of the fan core is covered with silk thread. The embroidery pattern in the fan core is simple and generous, with many auspicious patterns such as mandarin ducks, jade rabbits, pine cranes, flowers, insects and fish. There are also embroidered greetings such as friendship, happiness, love, coolness and wealth. Then install a bamboo handle, and tie red and green silk cotton at the fixing point and the tail of the handle. The whole fan is warm and generous, simple and beautiful, and it is indeed a practical and exquisite folk art. This custom is passed down in the countryside. In the countryside, no matter the big girl, the little sister-in-law or the old woman, they will weave and embroider this beautiful straw fan. They have been handed down from generation to generation, weaving a lot of fans every year and giving them to distant relatives, close neighbors, relatives and friends, as a cool, sun-proof and insect-repellent appliance. It is a custom in the countryside that every Dragon Boat Festival in May, the bride's family will visit her daughter with food gifts to show her parents' love for her daughter. One of the main gifts is the straw fan. These fans range from 20 to 30 to 100, all of which are made by daughters-in-law. They distributed these food fans to uncles, aunts and sisters-in-law, and neighbors.
Reprinted with attribution： https://cnlocality.com/(Chinese Specialty Products)