The Plantain Fan is one of the most famous magical treasures in Journey to the West, inseparably connected with Princess Iron Fan, the Bull Demon King, and the story of the Flaming Mountains.
When Tang Seng and his disciples reach the Flaming Mountains, the road ahead is consumed by unbearable fire. The only way to extinguish the flames is to obtain the Plantain Fan held by Princess Iron Fan.
Unfortunately for Sun Wukong, the princess deeply resents him because her son Red Boy has been subdued by Guanyin. When Sun Wukong comes asking for the fan, she refuses and instead uses it against him, sending him flying far away.
Sun Wukong does not give up. Using his powers of transformation, he enters Princess Iron Fan’s body and torments her from within until she agrees to surrender the treasure. But the fan he receives is false. When he tries to use it on the mountain, the flames only grow stronger.
Sun Wukong then disguises himself as the Bull Demon King and tricks Princess Iron Fan into handing over the genuine fan. The real Bull Demon King discovers the deception and answers with a trick of his own, transforming himself into Zhu Bajie and stealing the fan back.
The struggle over the fan becomes an escalating contest of transformations, deception, pursuit, and combat. Only after the Bull Demon King is finally subdued does Sun Wukong secure the true treasure.
With repeated waves of the Plantain Fan, the flames of the mountain are extinguished and the pilgrims can continue westward.
The fan is memorable not simply because of its supernatural power. An apparently simple attempt to borrow one object grows into an entire legendary adventure involving Sun Wukong, Princess Iron Fan, the Bull Demon King, and Red Boy.
