"Artists from ancient China, especially those living in turbulent times, often painted wind-swept or rain-slashed bamboo plants, inspired equally by their unbreakability and flexibility," says Wang Yimin, an ancient Chinese painting expert from Beijing's Palace Museum.

"It's also worth noting that jie, the Chinese character for bamboo nodes, also means integrity and rectitude."

By the time the folding fan became popular in the country in the 14th century, bamboo had long entered the Chinese visual and literary iconography, a powerful symbol for those who would like to think of themselves as men of virtue.

"Fans made of sandalwood or ivory may be called rare or valuable, but they are nowhere near elegant, and therefore, not for one who's aesthetically cultivated," according to Shen Defu, a man of words who lived between the 16th and 17th centuries.