Princess Iron Fan

Princess Iron Fan (traditional Chinese: 鐵扇公主; simplified Chinese: 铁扇公主; pinyin: Tiěshàn Gōngzhǔ; Wade–Giles: T‘ie³-shan⁴ Kung¹-chu³; Jyutping: Tit3sin3 Gung1zyu2) is a character from the 16th century Chinese novel, Journey to the West. She is the wife of the Bull Demon King and mother of Red Boy. She is one of the most popular Journey to the West villains, alongside her husband the Bull Demon King, her son the Red Boy, and Baigujing.^[1]

In Journey to the West, Princess Iron Fan is not so much a goddess as in a "proper" celestial one, but rather she made the villagers living near Flaming Mountains yield to her and offer her tribute like a goddess.^[2] She is also addressed as Rākṣasī (羅剎女; Luóchànǚ).

Journey to the West

Princess Iron Fan is a beautiful demoness, married to the Bull Demon King and mother to the Red Boy. She was living in "Palmleaf Cave/Grotto" (棕櫚葉洞; Zōnglǘyèdòng), up on "Jade Cloud Mountain" (玉雲山' Yùyúnshān), awaiting her husband's return, but was also angry at him for his affair with a fox-spirit woman, Princess Jade Face. The Bull Demon King described his wife as an "immortal female with excellence in spiritual practice (female Xian)" and that she had "practiced self-cultivation since her youth".^[3]

She possessed the magical-treasure, the Banana Leaf Fan (香蕉叶扇; Xiāngjiāoyèshàn). The fan, made from banana leaves (not dissimilar to the Palm Leaf Fan (芭蕉扇; Bājiāoshàn), one of 5 sacred treasures of Daode Tianzun/Laozi), is extremely large and has magical properties; the novel describes the palm-leaf fan a spiritual treasure 'begotten' of Heaven and Earth at the back of Mount Kunlun at the time when chaos divided. It is a finest leaf of the "supreme yin", and that is why it can extinguish all fires, including the fires on the Flaming Mountains (the volcano that was created inadvertently by Wukong when he burst out of the aforementioned Laozi's Eight Trigrams Brazier 500 years earlier). The palm-leaf fan is also described as being able to create giant whirlwinds; if a man is bodily fanned by it, he will "drift for eighty-four thousand miles before the cold wind subsides". The only know thing immune to the fan's winds is a 'Wind-Arresting elixir' (定风丹; Dìngfēngdān), a bead of which was loaned to Sun Wukong from the Boddhisatva, Lingji, who had originally gotten it from Tathāgata Buddha.

Beside the Banana Leaf Fan, Princess Iron Fan also wields a pair of blue-bladed treasure swords.

Princess Iron Fan used this ability to extort favours from the residents near the mountains: by fanning only once each time, the fire would only be extinguished for a year before starting again.^[4]

When Sun Wukong and his fellow pilgrims came to the region, they encountered an extremely hostile range of volcanic mountains that they could only pass if the volcanoes became inactive. Sun Wukong wanted to borrow her fan to subdue the Flaming Mountains, but she turned him down as the monkey had been on bad terms with her husband before. Sun Wukong, however, craftily transformed into a fly and flew into her mouth, down her throat, and into her soft belly.^[5]

Once inside, Sun Wukong kicked and punched Princess Iron Fan's guts until she was in so much pain that she gave him a fan. However, the fan turned out to be a fake fan which intensified the flames instead of putting them out. Having barely escaped from the fire, Sun Wukong returned, pretending to be her husband through shape shifting and obtained the real fan. Soon afterwards, the real husband came home; angry at what had happened, he pretended to be Zhu Bajie also through shape shifting and offered to carry the big fan. Lost in the moment of victory, Sun Wukong carelessly believed the Bull King and handed over the fan. Later, the Jade Emperor sent his heavenly troops to help Sun Wukong defeat Bull Demon King and Princess Iron Fan for good, and she was forced to give them the real fan. After using the fan to extinguish the fire on the Flaming Mountain, Sun Wukong forgave the princess and returned the fan to her. The princess continued her spiritual practice, and eventually achieved success.^[6]^[7]

Journey to the South

According to Journey to the South [zh], Princess Iron Fan is depicted as a goddess. She is the daughter of Yuhuan Shengmu and has a younger brother named Shan Cheng. When Huaguang Dadi (the protagonist of Journey to the South) stole the Golden Pagoda from her mother, Princess Iron Fan disguised herself and carried her iron fan, long spear, and sharp knife to seek revenge. In their first battle, the princess defeated Huaguang. Later, Huaguang coincidentally encountered an immortal who revealed his connection with Princess Iron Fan. After obtaining a Wind-Calming Pill from the immortal, Huaguang successfully captured Princess Iron Fan and married her. Due to the story of their marriage, Princess Iron Fan is worshipped alongside Huaguang Dadi in the Huaguang Great Emperor Temple [zh] in Fu'ao Village [zh], Nangan Township.^[8]^[9]

Other legends

Her origins are unclear, but some legends depicted her as a Taoist goddess and the ancestor of the wind gods who was entrusted by the heavenly court, and all the wind gods were under her jurisdiction. She is said to be the mentor of Meng Po, the goddess of forgetfulness.^[10]

In Yuan zaju tradition, she is the sister of Lishan Laomu (Old Mother of the Li Mountain)^[11] and was originally a friend of the Queen Mother of the West, Pilanpo and belonged to Taoism.^[12] She once had a dispute with the Queen Mother of the West because the Queen Mother of the West brought her own wine. As a result, she rose up against the scene and turned against the heaven.^[10]

Adaptations

The subject of the first Chinese animated feature film is a liberally adapted version of the encounter between Sun Wukong and Princess Iron Fan entitled Princess Iron Fan (1941).
An adaptation of this occurs in the 24th episode of the Japanese television adaptation Saiyuuki, "The Fires of Jealousy."
In the adaptation in the 1996 Journey to the West series, the Princess and Bull King have already known Monkey since childhood (they went to the same school that taught Monkey his fighting abilities) and were willing to give him the fan. But their obnoxious son, Red Boy, refuses to let his mother give the fan, thus forcing Monkey to enter her belly to force her to give him the fan.
The Dragon Ball series Son Goku's wife Chi Chi is based on the character. When she first appeared, her mission alongside Goku was to find the Bansho fan to put out the fire in her father's castle.
The Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics) series had the Iron Queen, who was wed to the ox-like king Jun Kun and, in her first appearance, set an eternal fire on Mount Stormtop with her magic that could only be put out with the Fan of Fen Xing.
In Act-Age, competing actresses Kei Yonagi and Chiyoko Momoshiro are both cast to interpret Princess Iron Fan in an original play centered around the character.
In the film Doraemon: The Record of Nobita's Parallel Visit to the West, she appeared under the name Queen Iron Fan, as the secondary antagonist.
In the anime Dinosaur King one of the villains Sheer is mistaken briefly for Princess Iron Fan (“lady tessen”)

She also appears in the 2020 Lego Monkie Kid show as a secondary antagonist.
Poppy Liu plays Princess Iron Fan in the 2023 Disney+ series American Born Chinese.^[13]

References

^ Lu, Xun (1959). A brief history of Chinese ficton. Foreign Languages Press.
^ Chinese Literature. Foreign Languages Press. 1961.
^ Chinese Literature. Foreign Languages Press. 1961.
^ Chen, Fan Pen Li (2007). Chinese Shadow Theatre: History, Popular Religion, and Women Warriors. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. ISBN 978-0-7735-3197-0.
^ Gao, Yan (1996). The Art of Parody: Maxine Hong Kingston's Use of Chinese Sources. P. Lang. ISBN 978-0-8204-3043-0.
^ Chen, Fanfan (2007). Fantasticism: Poetics of Fantastic Literature: the Imaginary and Rhetoric. Peter Lang. ISBN 978-3-631-56514-8.
^ My Favourite Chinese Stories. Chinese University of Hong Kong. 1995. ISBN 978-962-201-603-3.
^ "Encyclopedia of Chinese Pantheon". pdfcoffee.com.
^ "福澳境華光大帝廟". 文化資源地理資訊系統 (in Chinese (Taiwan)).
^ ^a ^b "西游记里，谁是黎山老姆姐姐？挥手击败孙悟空，观音都降伏不了". Tencent. 15 April 2018.
^ 壽羅香林敎授論文集 (in Chinese). 萬有圖書公司. 1970.
^ "牛魔王为何最后会归到佛门？牛魔王为何人脉广泛？". Sina Corp (in Chinese). 10 January 2019.
^ Otterson, Joe (June 27, 2022). "Disney+ Series 'American Born Chinese' Casts 'Hacks' Breakout Poppy Liu (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved May 30, 2023.

Sources

Yuan, Haiwang (2006). The Magic Lotus Lantern and Other Tales from the Han Chinese. Libraries Unlimited. ISBN 978-1-59158-294-6.
Werner, Edward Theodore Chalmers (1956). Myths and Legends of China. Library of Alexandria. ISBN 978-1-4655-8092-4.
Beijing Review. Beijing Review. 1987.
Che, Muqi (1989). The Silk Road, Past and Present. Foreign Languages Press. ISBN 978-0-8351-2100-2.

[1] Lu, Xun (1959). A brief history of Chinese ficton. Foreign Languages Press.

[2] Chinese Literature. Foreign Languages Press. 1961.

[3] Chinese Literature. Foreign Languages Press. 1961.

[4] Chen, Fan Pen Li (2007). Chinese Shadow Theatre: History, Popular Religion, and Women Warriors. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. ISBN 978-0-7735-3197-0.

[5] Gao, Yan (1996). The Art of Parody: Maxine Hong Kingston's Use of Chinese Sources. P. Lang. ISBN 978-0-8204-3043-0.

[6] Chen, Fanfan (2007). Fantasticism: Poetics of Fantastic Literature: the Imaginary and Rhetoric. Peter Lang. ISBN 978-3-631-56514-8.

[7] My Favourite Chinese Stories. Chinese University of Hong Kong. 1995. ISBN 978-962-201-603-3.

[8] "Encyclopedia of Chinese Pantheon". pdfcoffee.com.

[9] "福澳境華光大帝廟". 文化資源地理資訊系統 (in Chinese (Taiwan)).

[a-10] "西游记里，谁是黎山老姆姐姐？挥手击败孙悟空，观音都降伏不了". Tencent. 15 April 2018.

[11] 壽羅香林敎授論文集 (in Chinese). 萬有圖書公司. 1970.

[12] "牛魔王为何最后会归到佛门？牛魔王为何人脉广泛？". Sina Corp (in Chinese). 10 January 2019.

[13] Otterson, Joe (June 27, 2022). "Disney+ Series 'American Born Chinese' Casts 'Hacks' Breakout Poppy Liu (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved May 30, 2023.

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